From streets to surgery rooms, a solution for India's stray dog crisis

The Union budget may propose a scheme to finance the mass sterilization of stray dogs at government veterinary hospitals, three officials familiar with the matter said. The scheme, the first of its kind in India, will provide one-time grants to the hospitals to build dedicated surgical theatres and post-operative recovery facilities.

The Union ministry of fisheries, animal husbandry and dairying has submitted the Animal Birth Control (ABC) scheme to the finance ministry, the people cited above said on the condition of anonymity. The development comes at a time when the Supreme Court is hearing petitions questioning its order to remove stray dogs from public premises such as schools and hospitals.

“We have received the SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) pertaining to ABC and we are studying the various provisions," one of the three people said on the condition of anonymity.

Case load

Dog bites have nearly doubled in two years, shows data from the ministry of fisheries, animal husbandry and dairying, rising from nearly 2.2 million in 2022 to over 3.7 million in 2024. The crisis intensified in 2025, with January alone recording 429,664 bites—a staggering rate that translates to more than 13,800 bites every day across the country.

Human fatalities have soared as well, climbing from 21 in 2022 to 54 in 2024. While the 2019 Livestock Census pegged India's stray dog population at 15.3 million, estimates suggest that India has about 62 million stray dogs, according to the State of Pet Homelessness Index 2021 by Mars Petcare, the global pet health and nutrition company.

While India's ABC Rules, 2023 mandate the sterilization and vaccination of stray dogs by local bodies, implementation has suffered due to a lack of funds. However, the rules failed because they put the onus on municipalities without monitoring, the person added.

To be clear, ABC rules mandate what must be done—such as sterilization, vaccination, and humane treatment of animals—but do not provide funding for municipal-level implementation. A national scheme can bridge this gap by supplying financial, logistical, and technical support, setting sterilisation and vaccination targets across states, and ensuring uniform coverage.

Timeline

The proposed scheme is expected to be integrated into the 16th Finance Commission cycle, spanning 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2031.

This scheme would focus on mass sterilization to stabilize the canine population while simultaneously providing anti-rabies vaccinations. Rabies is almost 100% fatal once clinical symptoms appear, but preventable through both canine and human vaccination.

“Nothing is more tragic than a preventable death. We have instructed medical colleges to train staff on rabies management and post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), while ensuring a sustained supply of anti-rabies vaccine (ARV) and serum (ARS). All cases must now be reported to state health departments and uploaded to the Integrated Health Information Platform (IHIP)," said the second official.

Deadly disease

A person who develops rabies following a dog bite typically shows symptoms such as fever and headache, anxiety, hydrophobia (fear or difficulty swallowing water) and excessive salivation.

Doctors emphasize that the scale of the crisis requires a “One Health" approach. Dr. Rajeev Jayadevan, a public health expert, explained that rabies is a universally fatal illness where the virus travels from the wound site to the brain. Dr. Jayadevan pointed to a landmark study published in The Lancet Global Health revealing that India sees around 5,700 rabies deaths annually, far higher than hospital-reported figures. “Reducing this to zero must be the goal. Research shows a percentage of apparently healthy free-roaming dogs carry the virus in their saliva, making it impossible for the public to identify a dangerous animal," he added.

Queries emailed to the ministries of animal husbandry, finance and health on 14 January remained unanswered till press time.

Court matters

To be sure, the Indian judiciary has been seized of the rising incidence of dog bites across the country. On 13 January 2026, a Supreme Court bench expressed deep concern over the "lifelong impact" of dog bites, particularly on children and the elderly. In a series of stern oral observations, the bench warned that state governments could be held liable for heavy compensation for every death or injury, noting that administrative failures have allowed the problem to multiply.

On Tuesday, a Supreme Court bench led by Justice Vikram Nath heard submissions from animal rights activists and NGOs, Live Law reported. The arguments focused on the failure of municipal bodies to implement Animal Birth Control rules and the state's liability for dog-bite incidents under Article 21. The court will hear the matter again on 28 January.

Keren Nazareth, senior director, companion animals and engagement, Humane Society International (HSI)/India, a global animal welfare organization, noted that a major obstacle has been a lack of adequate resources. “The introduction of the scheme will be a significant and timely step in the right direction, helping to bridge the long-standing gap and bring uniformity across states," Nazareth said.

Shaurya Agrawal, policy associate at animal rights advocacy PETA India, said that a dedicated budgetary framework can finally bring scale and discipline to dog population management. “Its success will depend on execution and ensuring that implementing agencies receive funds on time to work in accordance with the 2023 Rules," Agrawal said.

The national strategy is also tied to India’s “Zero by 30" commitment, a World Health Organization-led global initiative to eliminate dog-mediated human rabies deaths by 2030. This is a critical goal for India, which has consistently accounted for approximately one-third of all global rabies deaths between 2020 and 2024.