Stray Dogs and Rabies in India: What the Data Says, What the Supreme Court Ordered, and What Actually Works

How big is the stray dog and rabies problem in India?

India has a lot of dogs, a lot of dog bites and a deadly disease that is entirely preventable. The 20th Livestock Census of 2019 counted about 1.53 crore (15.3 million) stray dogs, though census quality has been questioned and local counts can differ widely. The government’s own figures show dog bites rising each year: about 21.9 lakh in 2022, 30.5 lakh in 2023 and about 37 lakh in 2024, according to data compiled by ThePrint. The totals do not separate pet bites from stray bites.

Rabies is the part that turns a bite into a tragedy. Once symptoms appear, the disease is almost always fatal. Yet it can be stopped with prompt wound care and vaccine after a bite, and by vaccinating dogs. This article sets out the numbers, the legal position as it stands after the Supreme Court’s May 2026 judgment, and the programmes that have cut deaths. It tries to be fair to two groups who are often pitted against each other: people who fear dogs on their street, and people who care for them.

How many people die of rabies in India?

Nobody knows exactly, and that is part of the problem. In a 2016 feature, the World Health Organization estimated that 18,000 to 20,000 people die of rabies in India every year, and noted that rabies is not a notifiable disease here, so the true burden is unknown. Many deaths happen at home and are never recorded as rabies. The same WHO feature said India has about 25 million stray dogs, a higher number than the 2019 census. It is another sign of how rough these counts are.

Official reporting gives far smaller numbers. In a written reply in Parliament in July 2025, the health ministry reported 37,17,336 dog bite cases and 54 suspected human rabies deaths for 2024, based on state reporting to the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) under the National Rabies Control Programme. Other outlets quote the bite count as 37,15,713. The gap between 54 deaths on paper and a WHO estimate in the tens of thousands tells us that most rabies deaths are not reaching the official count.

The WHO’s current rabies fact sheet says rabies caused about 44,000 deaths worldwide in 2021 by its Global Health Estimates and that dogs are responsible for up to 99% of human cases. It adds that the true toll is probably higher. The WHO and its partners aim to end human deaths from dog-mediated rabies by 2030, a goal known as Zero by 30.

Who is most at risk?

Children. ThePrint, quoting WHO, says 30% to 60% of rabies cases in India involve children under 15. Goa’s rabies programme reported that children under 15 made up 60% of human rabies cases there. Children are bitten more, often on the face and head, and they may not tell an adult about a minor scratch.

What should you do after a dog bite?

The WHO’s advice is the same everywhere. Wash the wound with soap and running water for at least 15 minutes, then go to a doctor or hospital. Post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) is a course of rabies vaccine and, for serious bites, rabies immunoglobulin or monoclonal antibodies. PEP stops the virus from reaching the nervous system. Dr Debashish Parmar of RML Hospital in Delhi told ThePrint that rabies is 100% fatal but 100% preventable with prompt vaccine and immunoglobulin, and that most of the bite cases he sees are Category III, the most severe type.

The three steps that matter:

• Wash: soap and running water for 15 minutes, even if the wound looks small.
• Go: to a government hospital or clinic the same day. Do not wait to see whether the dog falls ill.
• Complete: every dose of the vaccine on schedule, and take immunoglobulin if the doctor advises it.

What do the bite numbers hide?

Bite counts are the most quoted statistic in this debate, and they are less solid than they look. The national figures come from state reports, and they do not say whether the biter was a stray, a pet or a neighbour’s dog. ThePrint noted that the Delhi figures it compiled were internally inconsistent, with a single month of 2024 higher than the full-year total, which suggests reporting changes or errors. A rise in recorded bites can mean more bites, or it can mean that more people now go to a clinic and get counted, which is the outcome a good rabies programme wants.

Deaths are the harder number. Official rabies deaths are tiny beside the WHO estimate, which says more about surveillance than about risk. A country that wants to end rabies deaths by 2030 needs a death count it can trust: a notifiable-disease rule, a laboratory test for suspected cases, and a record of whether the person ever received PEP. Without that, a city can claim success while children die at home.

Vaccines themselves are another gap. A veterinarian quoted by ThePrint argued that cold-chain failures can spoil vaccines, and that annual boosters are advisable for dogs in India. The cold-chain claim is one person’s allegation, not an audit, but it points to a real need: dog vaccination only works if the vaccine is kept between 2 and 8 degrees Celsius and each dog’s dose is recorded. The same logic applies to human vaccine stock in government clinics, which is why the Court ordered that anti-rabies vaccine and immunoglobulin be available at all times.

What did the Supreme Court order?

The legal position moved quickly between 2025 and 2026, and the latest word is the judgment of 19 May 2026 by a three-judge bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and N.V. Anjaria. The text is available on the Supreme Court’s website. It closes a series of orders in a case the Court began on its own initiative in 2025, after a newspaper report on children harmed by dog attacks.

1. 11 August 2025. A two-judge bench directed authorities in Delhi-NCR to pick up stray dogs and move them to shelters. The matter was then referred to a three-judge bench.
2. 22 August 2025. The larger bench called the blanket order too harsh. It allowed sterilised and vaccinated dogs to be released back to their localities, except rabid or aggressive dogs, and required designated feeding spaces and helplines.
3. 7 November 2025. The Court ordered stray dogs removed from institutional areas such as schools, hospitals, sports complexes, bus stands and railway stations, sterilised and vaccinated, and kept in shelters rather than released back to the same place.
4. 19 May 2026. The final judgment kept the November directions and added the following, as set out in paragraph 108 of the judgment.

• Every state and Union Territory must have at least one fully functional Animal Birth Control (ABC) centre in each district, with trained staff and surgical facilities, and decide where more are needed.
• States must strengthen vaccination drives and create adequate shelter capacity.
• Government medical facilities must hold anti-rabies vaccine and immunoglobulin at all times, and have a public health response for dog bites.
• Authorities must take reasoned decisions on extending the institutional-area rule to other high-footfall public spaces.
• Where dog populations have reached alarming proportions and attacks are frequent, authorities may, after assessment by qualified veterinary experts and strictly under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 and the ABC Rules, 2023, take legally permissible steps, including euthanasia of rabid, incurably ill or demonstrably dangerous or aggressive dogs.
• Officials acting in good faith to carry out the directions should not ordinarily face criminal complaints, unless there is a prima facie case of malice, gross abuse or actions outside the directions.
• The National Highways Authority of India must set up a time-bound mechanism for stray cattle and other animals on highways.
• All High Courts must register a suo motu petition as a continuing mandamus and monitor compliance, so day-to-day oversight moves from the Supreme Court to the High Courts.

The judgment does not order every stray dog off every street. The directions are about institutional and high-footfall spaces, not a blanket order for every street. Outside the institutional spaces, the ABC framework of sterilisation, vaccination and return still applies. This summary is for general understanding, and readers who need the exact legal wording should read the judgment, because later orders may change details.

What are the ABC Rules, 2023?

The Animal Birth Control Rules, 2023, are made under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960. They replaced earlier rules from 2001. Their core idea is catch, neuter, vaccinate and return: municipalities and panchayats catch street dogs, sterilise and vaccinate them at an ABC centre, and release them in the area where they were caught, with records. The rules do not permit indiscriminate killing or relocation of healthy dogs. The Court’s institutional-area directions make an exception for places such as schools and hospitals, which it held are not “streets” or “localities” for the purposes of the return rule.

The Supreme Court noted in its judgment that municipal bodies had failed for many years to implement the ABC framework properly. That is the crux. Many cities have rules on paper and too few centres, vets and vans.

Do culling and shelters solve the problem?

The evidence is against mass culling. The WHO’s position, quoted by ThePrint, is that mass dog vaccination is the most cost-effective prevention and that culling does not lower dog numbers or control rabies over the long term, so mass culling should not be part of a rabies strategy. Removing dogs from an area tends to be followed by other dogs moving in, and a fresh set of unvaccinated animals replaces those taken.

Shelters are a different question. Animal welfare experts raise valid concerns that large shelters can become crowded, with fights, injuries and disease, if they are built without capacity and staff. The Supreme Court Observer, reporting on the November 2025 order, noted that states flagged capacity gaps; for example, Kerala has 19 ABC centres against a need for about five lakh shelter spaces. Shelter space on that scale, for dogs that may live ten years or more, is costly and hard to run.

The workable position is that shelters have a role for dogs that are rabid, aggressive or removed from sensitive sites, and for dogs awaiting treatment, while the bulk of the population is managed by vaccination and sterilisation in the community. The judgment itself reflects this mix.

What works: Goa’s rabies elimination

Goa is the best-documented success in India. In 2014, the state recorded 17 human deaths from dog-mediated rabies. In 2018 and 2019 it recorded none. A study published in Nature Communications, which VaccinesWork summarised in 2022, found that confirmed canine rabies cases fell by 92%, from 10.6 a month in 2014 to 0.8 a month in 2019. The work was done by the Goa government with the charity Mission Rabies and the University of Edinburgh. In 2021 Goa was declared a rabies-controlled area.

The Gavi VaccinesWork report lists what the programme did:

• Dog vaccination at scale. The target was to vaccinate 70% of dogs. Intensive coverage was reached statewide in 2017 and held for two years.
• A smartphone app. Teams used a custom app to map where dogs had and had not been vaccinated, giving what the researchers called unprecedented spatial precision.
• Education. More than 880,000 people were reached through school lessons from 2014 to 2019.
• Cost. Vaccination cost about US$3.45 per dog, above the global average of US$2.18, because strays often had to be hand-caught. The programme cost about US$567 per disability-adjusted life year averted, which meets the WHO’s “very cost-effective” test.

There are caveats. Better access to post-exposure treatment may also have contributed to fewer human deaths. And dog-bite reports in Goa rose from 785 to 1,430 per 100,000 people between 2012 and 2019, which the article does not explain; it may reflect better reporting as people were told to seek care. The lesson is that elimination is possible at state scale with steady vaccination, and not that dog bites disappear.

What works: Jaipur’s sterilisation programme

Jaipur offers a longer-running example of the sterilise-and-return method. The charity Help in Suffering has worked with the city’s municipal body on an ABC programme since 1996. According to a Veterinary Record blog on the study by Reece, Chawla and Hiby (2013), the share of female street dogs spayed rose quickly and has stayed between 70% and 80% since 2003. Human bite cases reported to hospitals declined during the programme even though the human population was growing quickly.

The authors are veterinary surgeons working with the charity, and the study shows a decline alongside the programme, which does not prove cause. The authors also note that sterilisation cannot stop a population from growing overnight. The article is useful as evidence that steady, high-coverage sterilisation can coexist with falling bite reports, not as proof of a precise effect. Other claims about Jaipur, such as large falls in dog numbers or rabies cases, come mostly from the charity itself and should be read with care.

Why do ABC programmes fail in many cities?

The pattern in cities where bites keep rising is similar:

• Too few sterilisations. Experts generally say that sterilisation needs to reach a large majority of female dogs in an area, and keep reaching new ones, to hold the population down. A programme that does a few thousand operations a year in a city of lakhs of dogs will not.
• No vaccination records. Without a database, nobody knows which dogs are vaccinated, or when the next dose is due.
• Weak ABC infrastructure. The Court noted a chronic shortage of ABC centres. The Supreme Court Observer noted that states told the Court about large capacity gaps even before the final judgment.
• Food waste. Dogs breed where they find food. Open garbage and unplanned feeding both sustain large populations.
• Human anger and local disputes. Feeders and residents fight, and in the absence of a clear local rule, both sides escalate.
• Poor access to treatment. If the nearest hospital runs out of vaccine, a bite becomes a death sentence.

Tamil Nadu is a case that shows why the numbers press for action. The Supreme Court judgment cites reports of about 2.63 lakh dog-bite cases and 17 deaths in the first four months of 2026 in the state, against 6.25 lakh cases and 34 deaths recorded for the whole of the previous year.

How can people and animals both be protected?

The best practice for both public safety and animal welfare is the same: fewer unvaccinated, unsterilised dogs and quick care for people who are bitten. A balanced local plan has these parts:

1. Count the dogs. A ward-level count and mapping, repeated yearly, shows where to focus.
2. Sterilise and vaccinate in blocks. Work area by area, aiming to cover at least 70% of dogs, and mark treated dogs by ear notch or collar so the work is visible.
3. Keep records. A simple digital record of each dog, date of vaccination and location, shared across wards.
4. Manage waste. Cover bins and clear food waste, especially near markets and hostels.
5. Designate feeding spots. The Court’s orders called for designated feeding places, so that feeders have a legal, safe option and residents are not confronted at their doorsteps.
6. Fix the bite response. Every government health centre should stock vaccine and immunoglobulin, with staff trained on wound care.
7. Deal with dangerous dogs individually. Dogs that are rabid or repeatedly aggressive need separate handling, and the 2026 judgment allows euthanasia only after veterinary assessment under the law.
8. Keep schools, hospitals and bus stands secure. Fencing, waste control and removal of dogs from these sites protect the most vulnerable people.
9. Register and vaccinate pet dogs. Pet vaccination is part of controlling rabies, and abandoned pets feed the stray population.

For more on India’s other public health gaps, see our pieces on TB in India, road deaths and drinking water quality. Another example of a city fixing a visible civic problem with steady work is Indore’s waste system, and the way local bodies are funded is covered in our look at municipal finances.

What you can do

• Know the bite routine. Wash with soap and running water for 15 minutes, then go to a government hospital the same day for the vaccine course.
• Vaccinate your own dog. Keep annual rabies shots up to date and keep the certificate. Sterilise pets that you do not plan to breed.
• Do not abandon pets. Abandoned animals become part of the stray population.
• Teach children. Tell them not to run from or tease dogs, and to report any bite or scratch to an adult at once.
• Feed responsibly. If you feed street dogs, use the designated spot your local body names, not building entrances, and clean up afterwards.
• Manage waste. Keep garbage covered. Open food waste draws dogs and raises conflict.
• Ask your municipality. Request the date, number and location of sterilisation and vaccination drives in your ward, and the address of the nearest ABC centre. Use the right to information if needed.
• Check your health centre. Ask whether the local government hospital has anti-rabies vaccine and immunoglobulin in stock.
• Volunteer. Local animal welfare groups often need hands for vaccination drives and awareness in schools.

Frequently asked questions

How many people die of rabies in India?

The WHO has estimated 18,000 to 20,000 deaths a year. Official reporting is far lower: 54 suspected human rabies deaths for 2024 in a Parliament reply, because rabies is not notifiable and many deaths are not recorded.

How many dog bites does India record?

About 37 lakh in 2024, up from 30.5 lakh in 2023 and 21.9 lakh in 2022, according to government data compiled by ThePrint.

Has the Supreme Court ordered all stray dogs off the streets?

No. In institutional areas such as schools, hospitals and bus stands, stray dogs are to be removed, sterilised, vaccinated and kept in shelters. Elsewhere, the sterilise-vaccinate-return approach under the ABC Rules, 2023 continues, and the May 2026 judgment allows euthanasia only of rabid, incurably ill or demonstrably dangerous dogs after veterinary assessment.

What are the ABC Rules, 2023?

They are rules under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 that make sterilisation and rabies vaccination the main tools of dog population control and require return of dogs to their original area, in place of killing or relocation.

Did any Indian state eliminate human rabies deaths?

Goa recorded zero dog-mediated human rabies deaths in 2018 and 2019, down from 17 in 2014, after a sustained dog vaccination programme, and was declared a rabies-controlled area in 2021.

Is culling stray dogs effective?

The WHO says it is not. Mass vaccination is more cost-effective and lasts longer, because culled populations are replaced by new, unvaccinated dogs.

The bottom line

India does not have to choose between safe streets and humane treatment of dogs. The data points one way: vaccinate most of the dogs, sterilise enough of them to hold the numbers, keep vaccine and immunoglobulin in every health centre, and treat every bite as an emergency. Goa shows that a state can end human rabies deaths with that approach, and Jaipur shows that long-running sterilisation can keep bite reports falling. The Supreme Court’s 2026 judgment now puts the duty squarely on states and cities to build the centres and the capacity they have long promised. Whether the streets become safer will depend on follow-through in each ward, not on the order alone.