International Best Practices: Lessons for Delhi’s Stray Dog Management

Delhi’s endeavor to comply with the Supreme Court’s directive to relocate stray dogs highlights the complexities of managing large stray animal populations. The absence of existing government shelters for an estimated 8 lakh dogs emphasizes the scale of the challenge. This scenario prompts a comparative analysis of best practices from countries like the UK, Netherlands, and Bhutan. The UK’s approach prioritizes the collection, identification, and rehoming of stray dogs. Authorities are legally obligated to collect stray dogs and shelter them while seeking the owners. Abandoning pets is illegal, carrying significant penalties. The Netherlands has eliminated stray dogs with its CNVR program, sterilizing, vaccinating, and returning them or offering them for adoption. Substantial taxes on store-bought dogs encourage shelter adoptions. Bhutan, in a significant achievement, successfully sterilized its entire stray dog population by 2023 through a concerted, nationwide program. Over 150,000 stray dogs were sterilized. Morocco, Turkey, Japan, China, and Switzerland have also adopted specific strategies, like TNVR in Morocco, removal and adoption in Turkey, quarantine and adoption in Japan, mass vaccination and responsible pet ownership in China, and strong anti-abandonment laws in Switzerland.