New Delhi: A balance has to be maintained between the safety of people and animal rights, said the Supreme Court Friday while suggesting that people who feed stray dogs could be made responsible for vaccinating them and bearing costs if somebody is attacked by the animal.
Dealing with the issue of the stray dog menace, a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and J K Maheshwari, said “some solution has to be found.”
“Most of us are dog lovers. I also feed dogs. Something came to my mind. Let people take care (of dogs) if they want but they have to be marked, not tracked through the chip, I’m not in favour of that,” Justice Khanna observed.
The apex court said a rational solution must be found to address the stray dog issue and posted the matter for hearing on September 28 and asked the parties to file replies in the matter.
The apex court has been hearing a batch of petitions on issues relating to orders passed by various civic bodies on the culling of stray dogs which have become a menace, especially in Kerala and Mumbai.
Some NGOs and individual petitioners have moved the apex court against the decisions of some high courts, including the Bombay High Court and Kerala High Court, to allow municipal authorities to deal with the stray dogs’ menace as per the rules.
PTI