PETA India writes to PMO, flags proposal to confine stray dogs for life

New Delhi: Animal rights organisation People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, opposing proposals that rely on lifelong confinement of animals and urging the government to adopt what it called humane and science-based approaches to managing stray dog and cattle populations.

In its letter to the Prime Minister's Office, PETA India submitted two documents the Roadmap for Humane Management of Community Dogs in India and the Roadmap for Humane Management of Stray Cattle in India grounded in the principles of Ahimsa and Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, the organisation said.

PETA India also flagged concerns over a Standard Operating Procedure of the Animal Welfare Board of India that proposes confining community dogs for life in enclosures measuring about 20 square feet per animal.

The organisation said such spaces are roughly the size of a traditional funeral pyre and warned that lifelong confinement would amount to cruelty rather than a solution.

Animal-welfare experts cited by the organisation cautioned that mass confinement would divert public resources away from the Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rules, 2023, which focus on sterilisation and rabies vaccination.

With an estimated 62 million free-roaming dogs across the country, PETA India argued that there is no realistic infrastructure, funding or administrative capacity to confine even a fraction of the population without causing widespread suffering and public-health risks, said in a statement.

"Confining dogs for life in spaces the size of a funeral pyre is not scientific population management. It is incarceration, on death row," said Vikram Chandravanshi, Senior Policy and Legal Advisor to PETA India.

"The roadmaps show how India can manage dog and cattle populations effectively by addressing root causes like the cruel pet trade and dairies dumping cows onto the streets without resorting to cruelty," he added.

The organisation warned that overcrowded facilities used for long-term confinement could increase outbreaks of infectious diseases such as canine distemper, parvovirus and kennel cough, as well as zoonotic infections, while worsening human-animal conflict.

On stray cattle, PETA India said confinement fails to address abandonment by dairies, noting that male calves are often abandoned at birth and female cattle discarded once milk yields decline. It said overcrowded and under-resourced gaushalas cannot absorb this influx.

The cattle roadmap called for strict enforcement against illegal dairies, penalties for abandonment, traceability of cattle to their source, regulation of gaushalas to prevent breeding and policies promoting plant-based milk alternatives, it said.

PETA India said it has also written to the chief secretaries of all states and Union Territories, urging them to implement the recommendations.