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Picture this: a nation recording zero human rabies deaths; another achieving near-total sterilisation and vaccination of free-roaming dogs; cities documenting sustained declines in conflict, not through fear, but disciplined science. This is not an aspiration. It is evidence. It proves, unequivocally, that sterilisation combined with vaccination is the only sustainable strategy for dog population management and rabies control.
This is not just the view of animal welfare advocates. It is the settled position of leading global health authorities. The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) identify sterilisation and vaccination as the foundation of successful dog population programmes. Their guidance is rooted in decades of global epidemiological research.
India’s own experience reinforces this consensus.
In Lucknow, a structured municipal programme, supported by an experienced animal welfare organisation, has sterilised and vaccinated over 84% of the city’s community dogs. This coverage exceeds international thresholds required to stabilise populations. Ward-level assessments recorded fewer new litters and nuisance complaints in high-coverage zones, consistent with global guidance. Lucknow’s lesson is not speed, but method: ward-wise planning, trained veterinary teams, institutional oversight and continuity.
In Uttarakhand’s urban centres, collaboration between local authorities and veterinary partners expanded coverage. Since 2018, state-supported programmes sterilised and vaccinated 46,000 dogs, reducing the number of puppies born on the streets. This reflects a fundamental public health principle: continuity delivers results; sporadic action does not.
In Sikkim, the Anti-Rabies and Animal Health (SARAH) programme implemented vaccination, deworming, Animal Birth Control (ABC) and awareness initiatives. This demonstrates how state-led administrative commitment and community participation can strengthen rabies control, even in challenging geographies.
Goa proves rabies is preventable when policy is guided by science. A 2021 official report recorded zero human rabies deaths for three consecutive years, alongside reduced canine rabies. This resulted from sustained vaccination, sterilisation, surveillance and adherence to WHO guidelines. Goa was subsequently declared a “rabies-controlled area” — the first Indian zone to receive such status for a zoonotic disease.
India’s successes are not isolated. They are mirrored globally.
Bhutan has declared its entire free-roaming dog population sterilised and vaccinated. Under its national programme, over 150,000 dogs were sterilised and vaccinated, alongside compulsory pet registration. This was not a statistical accident. It resulted from nationwide planning, veterinary capacity and sustained community participation.
Thailand is another example. In Greater Bangkok, Catch-Sterilise-Vaccinate-Return (CSVR) programmes sterilised and vaccinated over 400,000 dogs between 2016 and 2023. Studies show this is among the most cost-effective ways to reduce population growth and control rabies.
These experiences confirm what WHO and WOAH have long stated: integrated sterilisation and vaccination is humane, sustainable and scientifically sound. It works because it addresses the root driver — reproduction — while maintaining stable, vaccinated populations.
What unites successful programmes is not geography or wealth, but continuity, coverage, coordination and community engagement. Where these elements are present, populations stabilise, rabies risk declines and coexistence becomes possible.
India has incorporated this evidence into law. The Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rules mandate sterilisation, vaccination and return of dogs to their territories. This is not a concession; it is a public health imperative. Territorial stability is essential for population control.
The problem is not lack of knowledge, law or precedent. It is inconsistent implementation and government refusal to fund the programme. When sterilisation is sporadic rather than sustained, outcomes are diluted. When veterinary standards are compromised, public trust erodes. These are administrative failures, not method failures.
Every few years, panic resurfaces. The same demands are repeated: “remove them”, “lock them away”, “kill the problem”. What never changes is the refusal to look at evidence. India knows what works. Sterilisation is not an experiment. It is a proven public health intervention, a legal mandate and the only humane solution.
A society is judged by how it addresses problems of its own making. Dogs did not create this crisis. Unregulated breeding, abandonment and decades of municipal neglect did. Punishing animals for human failure is neither justice nor governance.
The solution is known. The law is clear. The science is settled.
Capture. Sterilise. Vaccinate. Return. Monitor. Repeat.
Anything else is noise, dangerous, dishonest and avoidable.
The way forward is clear. India’s roughly 780 districts cannot manage dog populations through sporadic drives. Each district requires at least one permanent ABC centre with trained teams, catch-and-release capacity, post-op care and monitoring. Public health succeeds through coverage and accountability. One trained implementing agency per district overseen by monitoring committees is the minimum standard; municipalities following this model saw results within two years.
The estimated cost is ₹5,000 crore over two years. This is based on conservative costs of ₹1,200-1,500 per dog to stabilise 60-70% of the national dog population, inclusive of all overheads.
The confinement alternative — indefinite sheltering, land acquisition and lifelong care — would push public expenditure into trillions. Sterilisation and vaccination account for roughly 1% of this cost. It is therefore not only humane and lawful; it is the only fiscally rational instrument of public health governance.
