Members of Student for Streeties and Citizens for Animal Birth Control during a press meet in Bengaluru on Saturday. | Photo credit: SUDHAKARA JAIN
Amid continued public anxiety over dog bites and rabies, Student for Streeties, a student-led organization, on Saturday claimed that Karnataka already has a working scientific solution but is failing to implement it properly.
At a press conference, representatives of student groups and animal welfare organizations said that the state government should fully adopt and uniformly implement the Animal Birth Control (ABC) rules, instead of spending huge sums on dog shelters or resorting to illegal dog picking. They stressed that indiscriminate trapping and detention of dogs not only violates the law, but also impairs public safety by disrupting stable populations of stray dogs known to reduce aggression and prevent new, unvaccinated dogs from entering an area.
They said they sought to meet the Chief Minister and Chief Secretary to advocate for clarity on the policy and its enforcement.
Harini Raghavan of Citizens for Animal Birth Control asked the state government to lead by example by committing to ABC rules, 2023. Referring to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s recent post on ‘X’ approval of ABC norms, she said the government should back up this stand with an affidavit in court and announce a nationwide rollout of the scheme.
She pointed to the ABC model in Bengaluru as evidence that permanent sterilization and vaccination can control the dog population and reduce the risk of rabies without cruelty.
Concerns have also been raised about current practice. Pratham, a law student, said existing laws were being selectively ignored. The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act and ABC regulations clearly prohibit the forced relocation of dogs to shelters, especially when most facilities are already overcrowded.
Despite this, dogs continue to be taken illegally, he said.
They argued that large-scale investment in shelters was neither effective nor necessary, and argued that proven ABC measures cost a fraction of what was proposed for new facilities and provided better long-term outcomes for both public health and animal welfare.
They also demanded the immediate release of more than 200 dogs allegedly illegally held in ABC shelters, saying such detention violates ABC rules.
In a video message, actor Pooja Gandhi also appealed to the government to uphold the law and adopt humane, science-based methods to control the stray dog population.
Published – 13 Dec 2025 20:37 IST
