Resuming the hearing on stray dogs issue on Thursday, the Supreme Court clarified that it did not order removal of all stray dogs from public streets. The top court said that its earlier orders only directed removal of dogs from institutional areas and stressed on adherence with the Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rules.
Dogs and cats are "natural enemies"
The bench comprising justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and NV Anjaria observed that dogs and cats are "natural enemies" and said that promoting cats can help in controlling rodent population.
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"On a lighter note, dogs and cats are enemies. Cats kill rodents so we should promote more cats and less dogs. That would be the solution. Tell us how many dogs you want roaming around in hospital corridors?" Bar and Bench quoted the Supreme Court as saying.
Responding to senior advocate CU Singh's submissions, who said that abruptly removing all dogs would cause a "vacuum effect", the bench raised concern over public health and safety issue and asked how many dogs should be allowed to roam hospital wards and around patients.
Counsels say...
Senior advocate Vinay Navare said that ABC rules were not being challenged and that the real problem was with implementation. He called for the "Lucknow model" to be implemented in all states. Another senior advocate Nakul Dewan called for the formation of an expert panel to deal with stary dogs issue. He also suggest the trap, neuter and release model to the apex court.
A counsel said that the current order of permanently removing dogs from institutional areas should be expanded to residential regions as well. Another counsel iterated that dogs are fiercely territorial and their territories change every 200-300 metres in search of food which often makes them aggressive, thereby putting residents in those areas at risk of dog bites.
Another counsel flagged the issue of some dog owners keeping their dogs off the leash, adding to public risk.
Next hearing on
Concluding the hearing, the bench said, "The dog can always smell a human who is afraid of dogs. It will always attack when it senses that. We are talking from personal experience."
The hearings will commence on Friday (January 9). The bench has directed all counsel to come prepared after reading a Times of India report published on December 29, titled "On the roof of the world, feral dogs hunt down Ladakh's rare species".
Previous day hearings
On Wednesday, the three-judge bench considered a clutch of petitions on stray dogs issue during which the bench asked why questions were confined to only dogs. The bench asked, "What about other animals lives? What about chickens and goats? Don't they have lives?"
Highlighting safety risks posed by animals on highways, Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and NV Anjaria said that an animal's intent to bite is unpredictable. "No one can read the animal's behavior or when he is in a mood to bite. Thus, prevention is better than cure."
"The roads have to be clear and clean of dogs. They might not bite, but they still cause accidents. Why do we need dogs on streets, schools and institutional areas?" the bench had said.
