Supreme Court hears plea on feral dogs threatening wildlife habitats

The Supreme Court has sought responses on a plea for fixed-time guidelines to manage dogs in protected areas. The petition says delayed action is leaving endangered wildlife exposed to repeated attacks.Newdelhi,Oct 12, 2026 20:10 ISTThe Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a plea seeking directions to the Centre to frame guidelines within a fixed timeline for the management of feral, free-ranging and domestic dogs in wildlife and protected areas. A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Aparesh Kumar Singh issued notices to the Centre, the National Board for Wildlife and the Animal Welfare Board of India.The petition, filed by the Bombay Natural History Society and others, said free-ranging and feral dogs pose a grave threat to native wildlife in India, including Schedule I species such as the snow leopard, chinkara, leopard cat, great Indian bustard and olive ridley turtle. Senior advocate Arvind Datar, appearing for the petitioners, told the court there have been attacks on endangered species such as snow leopards in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh and great Indian bustards in Rajasthan. The matter has been posted for hearing on November 17.The plea, filed through advocate Madhusmita Bora, has sought a direction to the respondents to frame and submit appropriate guidelines before the court within a stipulated timeline. It has also sought the identification of feral, free-ranging and domestic dogs entering wildlife habitats and protected forests through regular monitoring and geo-tagging.The petition has further asked for Rules 11 and 3(ii) of Schedule II of the Animal Birth Control Rules, 2023, to be declared unconstitutional, and for the relevant provisions to be read down so that they do not apply to protected zones, on the ground that they violate Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution. The petitioners said they had earlier moved the court on the issue, and that plea was disposed of on April 2, 2025 after Attorney General R Venkataramani assured the court that appropriate guidelines would be formulated in consultation with all stakeholders. According to the plea, "even after the expiry of 11 months from the date of the said order, the government has failed to frame, notify or implement any such guidelines for the management of feral dogs in wildlife habitats or ecologically-sensitive areas". It added that the threat posed by free-ranging dogs remains largely unaddressed by current wildlife laws in India, and listed great Indian bustards, black-necked cranes, chinkaras, olive ridley turtles, blackbucks and snow leopards among the species under threat. The petition also referred to a Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy report, which described free-ranging dogs as "one of the most dangerous threats" to native wildlife in India.The petitioners said they were renewing their prayer for the management of such dogs in wildlife and protected areas through identification of animals attacking or hunting wildlife, and through scientific measures to limit their population, including sterilisation and immunisation. The plea said, "If the measure of capture and sterilisation is not practicable, removal or elimination of feral, free-ranging and domesticated dogs invading wildlife habitats and forests may be considered." It also sought an effective complaint-redressal mechanism for attacks and incidents involving wildlife. In closing, the petitioners said the government's failure to frame the promised guidelines has led to unabated attacks on critically endangered species, including snow leopards, black-necked cranes, Tibetan wild asses, wolves, foxes, Pallas's cat, Eurasian lynx, Tibetan gazelle, blue sheep, ibex, Himalayan marmots and bar-headed goose. The Supreme Court said it would examine the plea further on November 17.- Ends