India, Aug. 23 -- Almost 16 years after a 2009 Delhi High Court order directed the creation of designated feeding spots for community dogs, the Capital is still struggling to implement the directive. Today, only a handful of such spots exist in any usable form. While close to 100 official feeding spots were once established across the city, activists say many have since been dismantled, encroached upon, or deliberately destroyed by residents opposed to the idea of feeding stray dogs.

The issue returned to the spotlight on Friday, when the Supreme Court underscored the importance of regulating community dog feeding, clarifying that feeding in public places without designated sites cannot be permitted.

For activists such as Sonya Ghosh --...