Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], February 22 : Prateek Yadav, brother of Akhilesh Yadav, joined a rally in Lucknow on Sunday supporting street dogs while urging Supreme Court to "not make any inhumane decisions", from the Taj Hotel to 1090 Chauraha. He also appealed to the people to support and empower animal birth control programs and organisations.
Prateek Yadav, speaking to ANI, said, "I would like to request the Honourable Supreme Court not to make any inhumane decision that goes against humanity, which would separate dogs, who are part of our society and have been domesticated by humans, from society. This is cruel and inhumane because dogs are social animals. They cannot live in confinement, and confining them is not possible or feasible for the government. It would require too much manpower, space, and shelter, which I don't think is possible. Instead, if we work on animal birth control and aim to reduce their population over the next 10 years, that's what the government should do. Work on animal birth control, not confinement."
"I appeal for people to support and empower animal birth control programs and organisations. Focus on neutering, castration, and spaying and implement these on a larger scale," Yadav added.
Speaking to ANI, Rashmi Singh, who was a participant at the rally, said," I feed street dogs and provide them with medical care. You can say I am an animal lover as well as a humanity lover. The message is simply that this Earth doesn't just belong to humans. The solution suggested by the Supreme Court is inhumane and unjust to animals. We need to find a solution where both humans and animals can coexist safely. What is happening now is like completely blindfolding the animals, which is not right. We just want a solution that isn't unjust to animals."
The Supreme Court has also clarified on January that it had not directed the removal of every dog from the streets, and the direction was to treat these stray canines according to the Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rules.

A three-judge special bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and NV Anjaria said, "We have not directed the removal of every dog from the streets. The direction is to treat them as per the rules."