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The Supreme Court has ordered that all stray dogs in Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, and Ghaziabad be taken off the streets and placed in shelters. The decision, issued on Monday, sparked an intense debate over whether the directive is realistic or workable.
Former Union Minister and animal rights advocate Maneka Gandhi strongly criticised the order, calling it "impractical", "financially unviable" and "potentially harmful" to the region’s ecological stability.
She warned that removing stray dogs could trigger a chain of unintended problems. “Within 48 hours, three lakh dogs will come from Ghaziabad, Faridabad, because there’s food here in Delhi. And once you remove the dogs, monkeys will come on the ground… I’ve seen this happen at my own house,” she said.
Gandhi further compared the situation to 1880s Paris, saying, “When they removed dogs and cats, the city was overrun with rats,” and called dogs “rodent control animals.”
In the late 19th century, Paris was home to large numbers of stray dogs. They were seen as carriers of rabies, fleas, and filth, and were considered a public health hazard. To make the city cleaner and safer, authorities launched a large-scale effort to eliminate them.
The absence of these animals, however, is believed to have led to a sudden boom in the rat population. Rats emerged from sewers and alleys, invading homes across the city.
The situation was worsened during the Siege of Paris (1870–1871), when food shortages forced people to eat rats, cats, dogs, and even zoo animals.
A research paper titled "Stray Dogs And The Making of Modern Paris" notes that in 1883, Paris made deliberate efforts to control the canine population due to rabies concerns. There is no evidence of cats being killed in the same period. One account mentions that pharmacist Émile Capron urged authorities to remove street dogs because they scared horses, often leading to accidents.
Meanwhile, the killing of cats in Paris did occur — but much earlier. Historian Robert Darnton describes a “cat massacre” in his 1984 book "The Great Cat Massacre and Other Episodes in French Cultural History" — an event from the 1730s when printing press apprentices tortured and killed cats. A History Today report also recounts this grim episode, which was unrelated to the dog removals of the 1880s.
