In India’s lanes, a new story of street dogs emerges

On a warm August morning in Delhi, as the Supreme Court examined the city’s long-running “stray dog problem”, one theme kept resurfacing: nobody really knows the full picture. The Delhi government’s lawyer offered anecdotes — a chase here, a bite there — but reliable data was thin.

A new study is attempting to change that.

Earlier this year, researchers Meghna Bal and Aaqib Qayoom from the Delhi-based Esya Centre published one of the most detailed portraits yet of India’s free-ranging dogs — and the people who live alongside them. Surveying 1,063 respondents across 10 cities, the study aims to replace fear-driven narratives with evidence.

And the findings tell a story few expected.

A sharp decline in rabies, and a softer view of dogs

Begin here: human deaths from rabies in India have reduced by 90 per cent — from 534 in 2004 to just 54 in 2024. Between 2022 and 2025, a total of 126 rabies-related deaths were recorded nationwide. For a country often portrayed as struggling with stray dogs, the statistics reveal something else: the situation is improving, albeit unevenly.

The researchers asked people about the dogs in their own neighbourhoods. Most didn’t speak of snarling packs or dangerous streets. Instead, 73.5 per cent described the dogs as friendly, and 15 per cent as timid. Only 10.8 per cent characterised them as aggressive.

This didn’t surprise the authors. In much of India, dogs are not merely animals on the street — they are woven into cultural and religious life. Seventy-four per cent of dog feeders said feeding community dogs formed part of their religious practice.

“Dogs play important roles in the Mahabharata and are closely associated with several Indian deities,” the report notes. Compassion towards dogs, it suggests, is centuries old.

Partners in the neighbourhood

The study argues that dogs and humans exist in a mutual, give-and-take relationship, and that conflict often stems not from the dogs themselves, but from human behaviour.

“When people consistently treat free-ranging dogs kindly,” the researchers write, “the dogs become more approachable and less likely to perceive humans as a threat.”

Neighbourhoods appear to recognise this.

An overwhelming 91.4 per cent of respondents said the dogs in their localities made their communities safer, helping deter petty crime. More than half — 52 per cent — believed community dogs helped keep women and children safe. A remarkable 96 per cent said they felt “very safe” in their area because of these dogs.

Nearly 52 per cent also said street dogs helped keep rats and monkeys away — a quiet public service that rarely receives acknowledgement.

Where things go wrong

The report does not romanticise street dogs. It acknowledges genuine challenges: dog bites, localised conflicts, and uneven distribution of dog populations. But it links these issues to municipal shortcomings, poor waste management, and weak implementation of Animal Birth Control (ABC) rules — rather than to the presence of community dogs themselves.

The solution, it argues, is not to remove dogs — a strategy tried without success for decades — but to rethink how urban spaces co-exist with them.

A new playbook for policymakers

The researchers recommend a set of reforms grounded in humane, community-based urban management.

Among their proposals:

Improve reporting of dog-bite cases, starting with revising the Animal Bite Reporting Form.

A simple addition — noting whether the biting dog was a pet or a free-ranging dog — could substantially strengthen public-health data.

Work with community feeders, not against them.

The study suggests action against those who harass responsible feeders — and proposes formally involving feeders as “lokyutas”, helping implement sterilisation and vaccination programmes.

Ensure sterilised dogs are returned to their home territories, preventing territorial conflict when they are relocated elsewhere.

Strengthen waste-management systems, which influence where dog populations cluster.

In short, the report urges cities to view street dogs not as problems to be eradicated, but as cohabitants, whose wellbeing and behaviour are shaped by human decisions and urban planning.

Beyond fear, towards coexistence

Back in the Supreme Court, the judges asked for solid evidence — a foundation for future policy. This new study may be the beginning of that foundation.

It portrays India’s community dogs not as lurking threats, but as long-standing companions who, when treated with fairness, return the gesture — by watching over neighbourhoods, deterring pests, and becoming part of daily life.

And perhaps that is the quiet message the data conveys:

To understand street dogs, we must first understand the streets — and the people — they share their world with.