PETA India has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, states and union territories and the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) submitting two detailed science-based Roadmaps that are grounded in the principles of Ahimsa and Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, offering humane and effective solutions for managing India’s community dog and stray cow populations—while strongly opposing proposals that rely on lifelong jailing of animals in overcrowded and underfunded facilities.
Here are the copies of the ‘Roadmap for Humane Management of Community Dogs in India’ and the ‘Roadmap for Humane Management of Stray Cattle in India’ submitted to Prime Minister Modi which outline scientific, preventive, lawful, and evidence-based approaches to dog and cow population management.
PETA India has also raised serious concerns regarding an Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) SOP to confine community dogs for life in enclosures of 20 square feet per animal—approximately the size of a traditional funeral pyre - a fitting metaphor as incarcerating dogs in these shelters is tantamount to sentencing them to death.
Watch this video showing what lifelong jailing of dogs would look like.
Animal-welfare experts warn that caging dogs like this would institutionalise cruelty, increase the risk of zoonotic and other disease, divert public resources away from the requirements of the Animal Birth Control Rules 2023—i.e. sterilisation and vaccination against rabies—and inevitably collapse under its own weight. With an estimated 62 million free-roaming dogs in India, there is no infrastructure, funding, or administrative capacity to confine even a fraction of the population without causing mass suffering and public-health risks.
Similarly, cattle abandonment is carried out predominantly by dairy operators and is further compounded by weak enforcement of existing laws. Male calves are routinely abandoned shortly after birth, while female cows are discarded once their milk yield declines—which is around a quarter to a third of their natural lifespan. Poorly regulated and illegal dairies, along with overcrowded gaushalas, also pose serious public-health risks. Close confinement, lack of sanitation, and inadequate veterinary care facilitate the spread of zoonotic diseases, including brucellosis, bovine tuberculosis (Mycobacterium bovis), leptospirosis, salmonellosis, and pathogenic Escherichia coli infections.
What the Roadmaps Propose:
For community dogs: time-bound, area-wide implementation of the ABC Rules, 2023; expansion via including smaller-scale sterilisation and rabies-vaccination efforts; closure of illegal breeders and pet shops; prohibition of foreign dog breeds bred for use in illegal dogfights; protection of community feeders; and strong government incentives for adoption.
For stray cattle: stronger penalties against abandonment by dairies; closure of illegal dairies; traceability and accountability mechanisms back to dairies; regulation of gaushalas to prevent breeding; and food policies promoting plant-based milk production to reduce dependency on milk from bovines and eventually reducing the cattle numbers.
What You Can Do to Help
Join PETA India in urging the office of the Minister of Animal Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying and the Animal Welfare Board of India to consider PETA India’s lawful and ethical recommendations to manage the dog and stray cow populations.