At a meeting hosted by the Environment Ministry in July to frame a new policy in the matter, one of the petitioners underlined that “sterilization alone may not be the solution as the sterilized dogs may continue to attack the wild animals in the area”.

Called feral or stray, free-ranging dog packs have emerged as a major conservation threat, directly hunting endangered species in recent years, and indirectly leading to the loss of wildlife through the spread of various diseases. Consider this:

* Camera-traps used for the 2018 all-India tiger census captured more stray dogs than tigers in 17 tiger reserves, prompting the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) to release a Standard Operating Procedure — “To deal with Stray/Feral Dogs in Tiger Reserves — in December 2020.

* Since 2014, Maharashtra Forest Rules prohibits “trespassing with or permitting to trespass dog” and allows forest officers, if they cannot chase away or capture without delay, to kill or trap such trespassing dogs by using all means at their disposal.

* In March 2020, an Environment ministry report by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) identified dogs as a major threat to the critically endangered Great Indian Bustard and Chinkara in Rajasthan’s Desert National Park.

* In March 2021, a report by the WWF-India and then Jammu and Kashmir government highlighted how the damage caused by feral dogs to the eggs and the chicks were the most important threat to the breeding of the Black-necked crane in Ladakh.

* In October 2023, the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) and the WII came together to publish a paper titled “Free-ranging dogs are seriously threatening Himalayan environment: delineating the high-risk areas for curbing free-ranging dog infestation in the Trans-Himalayan region.”

Among the victims are the snow leopard in Ladakh; Himalayan fox, blue sheep and ibex fawns in Himachal’s Spiti; golden langur in Assam’s Chakrashila sanctuary; leopard cat in Karnataka’s Coorg; mouse deer in Kerala’s Wayanad; and nesting Olive Ridley turtles along the coastline from Lakshadweep to Orissa.

Stray dogs have also been found mating with the Himalayan wolf in Spiti where the resulting hybrids are known locally as ‘Khib-shang’.

In 2017, a study by researchers from Bengaluru’s Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment recorded that 68 per cent of the dog attacks on wildlife were carried out by packs unaccompanied by people, and 45 per cent of these were lethal.

Since 48 per cent of the attacks were reported in and around sanctuaries and national parks, the study cautioned that the impact of dogs may seriously impede the very survival of wild species that are already suffering from serious population declines.

Dog packs are also potential careers of diseases like rabies, parvovirus, and canine distemper — a highly contagious malady that affects the respiratory, gastrointestinal and nervous systems — to the wild.

Hearing the petition in February 2024, the apex court referred the matter to the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) under the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries.

Last September, the AWBI held a meeting where, the minutes show, its secretary underlined “the severe threat posed by free-ranging dogs to endangered species”. The participants unanimously concluded that the ABC rules for population control “in its current form is not adequate to safeguard” the endangered wildlife due to “several constraints, including shortage of time.”

This April, the Supreme Court disposed of the petition with liberty to the petitioners to come back, if required, after attorney general R Venkataramani informed the court that talks were on between the ministries of Environment and Animal Husbandry and “in all likelihood guidelines will be framed within a period of six weeks from today.”

While that deadline was missed, key Environment ministry officials met top wildlife officials from six states, representatives from the AWBI, the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and the petitioners on July 7 when it was decided that the ministry “may again discuss with all concerned stakeholders if required and shall take necessary action in the matter.”

The five petitioners are Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), Conservation Action Trust (CAT), Nature Conservation Society and Wildlife Conservation Trust, and Mumbai-based conservationist Debi Goenka.

In the Delhi case, meanwhile, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court last week reserved its interim order on the issue of managing the stray dog population in the National Capital Region, days after another bench initiated suo motu proceedings and ordered the relocation of strays from the streets to dedicated shelters.