The Supreme Court has ordered the removal of all stray dogs from streets in Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, and Ghaziabad. The court said the dogs must be moved to shelters immediately.

Animal Rights Activist Criticises the Decision

Former Union Minister and animal rights activist Maneka Gandhi called the order “impractical”, “financially unviable”, and “potentially harmful” to the ecological balance. She warned the move could cause new 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,” Ms Gandhi said.

She compared the situation to Paris in the 1880s. “When they removed dogs and cats, the city was overrun with rats,” she said, calling dogs “rodent control animals.”

The 1880s Paris Incident

In the late 1800s, Paris had many stray dogs roaming its streets. Authorities saw them as dangerous carriers of rabies, fleas, and dirt. The animals were also blamed for scaring horses, which sometimes caused accidents.

In 1883, a pharmacist named Emile Capron urged officials to remove stray dogs to reduce rabies cases. Large-scale removals were reportedly carried out, though there is no confirmed record of cats being killed at the same time.

Rat Infestation After Dog Removal

Once the dogs were gone, rats began spreading rapidly from sewers and alleys into homes. This created serious health risks for the city.

During the Siege of Paris (1870–1871), food shortages had already pushed residents to eat rats, cats, dogs, and even zoo animals. But the later removal of dogs in the 1880s made the rat problem much worse.

The Cat Massacre of the 1730s

Some people confuse the 1880s event with a different incident — the “Great Cat Massacre” of the 1730s. Historian Robert Darnton wrote about it in his 1984 book The Great Cat Massacre and Other Episodes in French Cultural History. This earlier event involved printing press apprentices torturing and killing cats in Paris as a form of protest, not disease control.