Stray dogs also have a right to live: Apex Court

“Stray dogs have a right to live,” was how the Supreme Court reacted sharply on Tuesday when a submission was made that such canines should be completely destroyed across the country. A bench of Justices Dipak Misra and R Banumathi observed that though culling of stray dogs was permissible, there has to be a balance.

When one of the petitioners told the apex court that he wanted to “totally destroy” stray dogs across India, the bench said “nobody can destroy stray dogs in entirety. They also have a right to live”. Additional Solicitor General Pinky Anand concurred with the observations of apex court and said that stray dogs have a right to live and there has to be a balance.

The apex court has been hearing a batch of petitions on issues relating to orders passed by various civic bodies on culling of stray dogs which have become a menace, especially in Kerala and Mumbai. The bench said in Kerala, there were issues of human concern but for this all stray dogs cannot be killed. “A person can die due to dog bite. It is an accident and for that, we cannot say kill all the stray dogs,” it said.