Mumbai: BMC Plans To Move 10,000 Stray Dogs From Restricted Areas, Activists Question Shelter Capacity

Mumbai's Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) plans to relocate approximately 10,000 stray dogs from restricted areas, but animal activists are skeptical about the plan's feasibility. The BMC aims to move these dogs to designated shelters rather than releasing them after sterilisation and vaccination. Activists argue that the city lacks sufficient shelter homes and that a focus should be placed on effective sterilisation and vaccination programmes to control the dog population.

Sunish Subramanian, Secretary of the Plant and Animal Welfare Society (PAWS), Mumbai, raised concerns about the availability of permanent shelter homes for the stray dogs in Mumbai. He questioned whether the civic body can realistically establish permanent shelters for all the relocated dogs. Subramanian suggested that the city should prioritize a more sustainable solution by establishing sterilisation units at the ward level.

Roshan Pathak, an animal rights activist, echoed similar concerns, stating that the BMC's proposed relocation does not address the root cause of the stray dog issue. He emphasised that without proper control of the population, the number of stray dogs will continue to rise. Pathak reiterated that sterilisation and vaccination are the only sustainable solutions to manage the stray dog population.

The BMC had invited Expressions of Interest (EOIs) from agencies to establish large-scale dog shelters outside the city in February 2026. However, no progress has been made so far, according to an official. The civic body has been searching for land within Mumbai to accommodate the dogs, but the availability of such vast open spaces in a land-scarce city has proven to be a significant challenge.

Around 28,067 square feet of land is required to house 1,000 dogs, illustrating the enormous land requirement for any city-wide shelter plan.

The BMC's proposed initiative aims to address the stray dog population, which was estimated at 90,757 in 2024, down from 95,172 a decade earlier. Since 1994, a total of 4.34 lakh stray dogs have been sterilised in Mumbai. The BMC recently approved a budget of ₹23.31 crore to sterilise 33,671 dogs over a period of three years. A 2024 survey by the BMC in collaboration with Humane Society International/India (HSI) assessed the city's stray-dog population. In 2025, there were 154,017 recorded dog-bite cases in Mumbai.