India's top court has ordered authorities to remove all stray dogs from the streets and place them in permanent shelters, sparking an uproar from animal-rights groups over the feasibility of a decision some say was made in anger.

In cities across the country, the feral animals are both loved and feared. The judges are forging into intensely emotional territory by going after the ones in the capital.

Laws such as the PCA Act, 1960, and the ABC Rules, 2023, form the cornerstone of dog protection in India. These rules ban the killing of healthy stray dogs, allowing euthanasia only in cases where a vet confirms a dog is terminally sick or mortally injured.