India, Dec. 1 -- The Animal welfare Board of India (AWBI) has issued a standard operating procedure (SOP) for municipal authorities to implement the Supreme Court's November 7 order stating removal of stray dogs from public institutional premises. The SOP includes fixing dimensions of new shelters, conditions of these premises, identifying places from where stray dogs will be picked up, among others.

The first step as per the SOP, issued by Dr. Muthukumarasamy B, chairman of AWBI, is to identify the existing shelters and areas where new shelters could be established. An area of 70x40 feet has been fixed for keeping 100 dogs; 57x90 feet for 500 dogs, and 221x127 feet for maintaining 1,000 dogs.

Animal rights activists have flagged that t...