If you live in Delhi or its surrounding cities, you have probably seen road dogs everywhere, lounging near the markets, hanging around the garbage spots, or following people on an evening walk. But now, things can be changing.

On August 11, 2025, the Supreme Court has so far taken its strongest step on the issue, ordered Delhi and its satellite cities to catch every road dog within eight weeks, placed them permanently in the pound, and built a fast shelter.

The Region? The city records about 30,000 dog bites every year, and rabies, a fatal but stopped disease, still claims life, especially among those who struggle to reach timely treatment.

This step with the current animal birth control (ABC) rules, 2023, says that healthy road dogs should be caught, sterilized, vaccinated, and then returned to their area. These rules even make healthy dogs permanently move or limit to permanently, as long as they prove dangerously sick, or dangerous aggressive by a vet.

Problem? In fact, the sterilization drive is packed and slow, rarely achieved 70% coverage required to curb breeding.

But in addition to this legal and administrative tug-off-wore, the reality of dog bites is playing quite prominently in the emergency rooms of the hospital.

The growing street dog population is directly in cases of growing cutting, and for doctors on the frontline, captain, sterilization, or debate on permanent impoundment turns into a very real public health problem.

“Right now, we manage 40-50 animal cutting cases a month, most of them are from stray dogs,” Dr. Anurag Agarwal, Director and HOD, Emergency Medical and Trauma, Fortis Hospital, Noida. “A large number of of these are serious for immediate medical care and post-exposure prophylaxis requirement.”

Category I: Touching or feeding animals, licking on intact skin – no treatment is required.

Category II: Minor scratches or nibbing on minor skin – requirement of vaccine.

Category III: Contamination of deep bite, wound, or mucous membrane – vaccine and immunoglobulin.

Category II and III Bits – These are a kind of bite that breaks the skin and risk rabies and the most common. To create a large part of the victims with children under 15 years of age, the danger itself is beyond cutting.

Dr. “Children are often bitten on the face or arms, which leads to high rabies transmission risk. They do not always know how to react to an aggressive dog, so they cannot protect themselves as well as adults.”

Experts also say that there is a gradual increase in cases, especially during the monsoon months, when stray dog activity on peaks.

Rabies: Rare, but fatal

Once the symptoms appear, rabies is about 100% fatal, but 100% prevention is also prevention if you receive timely treatment. Rabies is a malignant disease caused by a virus, which is related to the lyssavirus genus in the rhabdoviridae family, which spreads through the bite or scratch of an infected animal, usually dogs.

It attacks the brain and nerves. Early symptoms can feel like flu, with fever, headache and weakness, but as the disease deteriorates, it can cause anxiety, confusion, difficulty swallowing, excessive saliva, hallucinations and even paralysis.

Once these symptoms appear, rabies is almost always fatal. Danger is in delay of treatment.

“We still look at patients who come late, or do not complete their vaccine schedule. It is extremely risky, as even a missed dose can mean the difference between life and death,” Dr. Aggarwal says.

For treatment, once you come in contact with an infected animal, there is an anti-rabies vaccine (ARV) and rabies immunoglobulin (RIG) that is administered on the basis of cutting category.

How to save yourself

The Supreme Court order is against legal challenges, whether health risk from dog bites, and rabies, are very real.

Doctors here say that you should do:

Look for medical care immediately after any bite, even if it looks small. Do not wait to see if it “heals on its own.”

Wash the wound thoroughly with soap and flowing water for at least 15 minutes.

Start the rabies vaccine schedule as soon as possible and complete every dose.

Ask your doctor about rig (rabies immunoglobulin) for high -risk bite, especially on the face, head or neck. The rig should be injected around and around the wound for maximum effectiveness. The rig is the most effective within 7 days of the first rabies vaccine dose. After this period, the vaccine itself produces enough antibodies, making the rig unnecessary.

Teach children to behave around dogs, avoid teasing, touching while eating, or contacting unknown dogs.

Big health paintings

India’s rabies Burdon is still the highest in the world. Experts say that with legal and administrative measures, we need a better access to community level vaccination drives, strong public awareness campaigns and post-bit treatment in government facilities.

Access to rabies immunoglobulin (rig) in India is still a challenge, especially in rural areas.

Dr. Neha Rastogi Panda, Fortis Memorial Research Institute, Advisory-Infectious Diseases at Gurugram said, “Despite the availability of rabies vaccination, the rig is expensive and often in a little supply. Human rabies immunoglobulin (HRIG) is particularly expensive, while Ikwin Rabies Immunoglobulin (Aerig) is still an alternative.

Dr. Says Aggarwal, “The requirement of the hour is increased by public awareness. People should know that rabies is eligible to be stopped, but only if you work fast,” Dr. Aggarwal says.

For now, Delhi waits to see if there will be less dogs on the roads by the Supreme Court order, and the emergency rooms of the hospital will have to cut less.

But till then, the best security against rabies is still fast action, not a wishful thinking.