Animal welfare activists and students have urged Karnataka Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar to strengthen Bengaluru’s dog sterilisation and anti-rabies vaccination programmes instead of permanently confining community dogs in animal pounds operated under the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA).
The appeal was made at a press conference in Bengaluru on October 10 by the group Students for Streeties, which brought a community dog to the venue. The activists said animal pounds should function as temporary facilities for sterilisation, vaccination and post-operative recovery, rather than as permanent holding centres.
The demand comes amid continuing criticism of the way Bengaluru’s five city corporations are handling community dogs. The activists said they had visited a shelter at Medi Agrahara in north Bengaluru, which recently became operational, and had flagged alleged violations of guidelines issued by the Supreme Court, the Animal Welfare Board of India and the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board.
The concerns raised at the shelter related to animal care, waste management and infrastructure. The group also said that only one shelter was currently operational and urged the authorities to examine alternatives before setting up facilities for the remaining four city corporations.
Social and environmental activist Arun Prasad said only around 10% of Karnataka’s dog population had been sterilised and vaccinated. He argued that the immediate priority should be to expand veterinary infrastructure and improve sterilisation and anti-rabies vaccination programmes rather than confine dogs in facilities that may not have adequate provisions for their care.
“When the whole country is yet to set up proper pounds, why is Bengaluru in such a hurry to do this?” Mr. Prasad asked, calling for measures that would allow community dogs to coexist with residents without permanent confinement.
The activists also appealed to Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi to support the effective implementation of the Animal Birth Control Rules and the expansion of sterilisation and anti-rabies vaccination programmes across Karnataka’s 31 districts.
Priyanka Raghu and Mahie Rai of Students for Streeties said the government needed to address public safety concerns while also protecting the welfare of community dogs. The group’s demands place the focus on how Bengaluru will provide veterinary capacity, temporary care and vaccination coverage while managing complaints and safety concerns across the city’s expanded administrative structure.
