Why this exists: the data doesn’t.
India publishes a street-dog population for most states and almost nothing else. The numbers a programme is judged by are missing, and a missing number looks the same as a zero.
35/36 states and union territories publish a dog population.
2/36 publish sterilisation coverage, the number that says whether a programme works.
37.2 lakhdog bites reported in 2024
54suspected rabies deaths caught by surveillance; modelling puts the real toll near 19,000
What each state publishes.
Dog bites reported, 2024
Three kinds of missing.
Never measured
- How many animals need treatment in a given year?
- Do sterilisation gains hold over time?
Held, not published
- How many sterilisations did each municipal ABC programme perform?
- What share of Delhi's dogs are vaccinated against rabies?
Published, unusable
- Where within Delhi are the animals?
- Where do animal bites actually happen?
A dog is treated, released, and becomes anonymous again.
The ear notch says a surgery happened. It cannot say when, by whom, or whether the vaccination is still in date. The next team starts from nothing. StrayPaw is the record that outlives the rescue, so the numbers this page is missing can finally be counted, street by street.
Sources 15
- National Action Plan for Dog-Mediated Rabies Elimination (NAPRE) by 2030Ministry of Health & Family Welfare / Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying, 2021
- Animal Birth Control Rules, 2023Government of India (Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying), 2023
- 20th Livestock CensusDept. of Animal Husbandry & Dairying (DAHD), 2019
- Rabies: Fact sheet & Expert Consultation reportsWorld Health Organization, ongoing
- Rabies surveillance & National Rabies Control ProgrammeNational Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), ongoing
- Estimates of the burden of human rabies deaths and animal bites in India, 2022-23Peer-reviewed (community-based cross-sectional survey & probability decision-tree modelling), 2024
- Supreme Court review of state ABC complianceSupreme Court of India (reported via independent press), 2025
- Peer-reviewed evaluations of ABC / vaccination programmesVarious (academic journals), various
- AWBI guidelines & recognised AWO directoryAnimal Welfare Board of India (AWBI), ongoing
- State of Pet Homelessness ProjectMars Petcare (research collaboration), ongoing
- Impact of ABC on street dog population and rabies in JaipurHelp in Suffering / peer-reviewed (WHO Bulletin and others), 2007
- One Health approach to rabies elimination in IndiaNational Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) / collaborators, 2022
- Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960Government of India, 1960
- National Guidelines for Management of Animal BitesNational Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), 2024
- 21st Livestock Census (announced)Dept. of Animal Husbandry & Dairying (DAHD), 2025