The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) will begin a survey of stray dogs at educational institutions, hospitals, Metrorail stations, railway stations, and bus stands in the city, following the Supreme Court’s direction to relocate the animals to shelters.
In 2013, Chennai became one of the first cities in India to explore the feasibility of the project, with a proposal for the construction of dog shelters. But the project did not take off as animal welfare activists, including Maneka Gandhi, wrote to the GCC opposing the proposal.
“The survey will be completed in a week. We will identify land for the construction of the shelters. The number of shelters will soon be finalised. We have to find NGOs to run the shelters,” an official said.
Vaccination
The GCC has already planned to construct two shelters for dogs with rabies symptoms. “We have identified land for the two dog shelters in Manali and Vadaperumbakkam,” he said.
Harsha Koda, co-founder, Federation of OMR Resident Associations (FOMRRA), said: “FOMRRA proposes that the GCC and panchayats along OMR set up designated feeding stations, enforce feeder registration, and deploy mobile vaccination and sterilisation units for humane stray dog management.”
Until all those are in place, a status quo should be maintained without targeting feeders or animals. This ensures safety and compassion while structured facilities are developed, he said.
The feeders should also comply with time and location assigned to them and take responsibility for neutering, registering, with microchips, and vaccinating the dogs they feed, he added.
Court directive
Animal welfare activist Jayanth Prakash said: “The Supreme Court order is purely impractical and illogical because the State government needs time to set up proper shelters to house these animals. Moreover, this order does not apply to dogs in housing units, apartments, and gated communities. It’s restricted to places such as schools and hospitals. So, if anyone tries to remove them, I urge the individuals to file a police complaint immediately.”
“The court directive lacks clarity, but I think we will get more clarity in the next hearing. As far as Chennai is concerned, it took so many years for GCC to renovate all the ABC units and open many new centres. This happened because of the pressure from local NGOs and animal welfare activities. Implementing the Supreme Court order now will affect the current activities carried out to control the stray dog population in the existing ABC centres, as there is no additional space and infrastructure to house all the dogs,” the activist said.
Published – November 09, 2025 05:30 am IST
