India’s streets are home to over 62 million stray dogs. These dogs—often called “Indies”—roam cities and villages across the country. While some people feed and care for them, their growing numbers have created a serious public health challenge.
Dog bites in India aren’t just a nuisance—they can be deadly. The World Health Organization reports that 36% of the world’s human rabies deaths happen in India, mostly due to bites or scratches from infected dogs. In one tragic case, a British tourist was bitten by a dog during her trip to India. After returning home, she died of rabies—a fatal virus that attacks the nervous system.
So how did things get this bad—and what’s being done about it?
A Legal Response That Sparked Debate
In 2015, a court in India ordered the city of New Delhi to round up and permanently shelter all stray dogs within eight weeks. At the time, the city had around one million strays.
Animal welfare groups immediately pushed back, calling the plan inhumane and unrealistic. The court revised the order and introduced a different approach: catch, sterilize, vaccinate, and return the dogs to where they were found. The court also encouraged cities to set up feeding zones, and made sure dogs that were aggressive or rabid wouldn’t be released.
This “sterilize and release” model became the national standard. It was a compromise—humane in theory, but hard to put into action. India doesn’t have enough shelters, vets, or funding to sterilize dogs at the pace needed to control the population. As a result, strays continue to multiply.
What the Law Says About Dog Bites
India has laws to hold dog owners responsible. If someone’s dog harms another person due to poor control or care, the owner can face up to six months in jail, a fine, or both.
But many of the dogs causing harm aren’t owned by anyone. They’re street dogs, so enforcement becomes complicated. That’s why public policy, not just punishment, plays a big role.
The Human Cost
With so many people and so many strays in close contact, attacks are common. Victims—often children—can suffer from deep wounds, infections, disfigurement, or long hospital stays.
Unlike in some other countries, India doesn’t yet have detailed data on how often these bites happen, what kinds of dogs are involved, or the exact conditions that lead to attacks. Without that data, it’s harder to plan effective solutions.
Why Stray Dogs Bite
A big part of the problem is hunger. From an animal behavior perspective, hunger increases aggression in many mammals—and dogs are no exception.
In India, a common scenario goes like this: a hungry dog approaches someone for food. The person tries to scare it away. The dog feels threatened or frustrated—and bites. Many bites are not unprovoked, but triggered by conflict over food.
What Now?
The stray dog crisis in India is complicated. It involves public health, legal systems, animal rights, and social behavior—all tangled together. Sterilizing and vaccinating dogs is the most humane strategy available, but without more resources and better infrastructure, it’s not enough.
Solving this problem will take more than court rulings. It will take cooperation between local governments, health workers, animal welfare groups, and everyday citizens.
Until then, stray dogs will remain a part of daily life in India—loved by some, feared by others, and still caught in the middle.
