How to Select, Secure and Maintain Stray Dog Feeding Spots?

Authored by Prasenjit Dutta,
-Retired Civil Engineer,
-Former Secretary and Founder of Pashupati Animal Welfare Society-PAWS at Barasat, Kolkata
-Proprietor of RKD Pet Shop that supplies pet-use products nationwide.

On 22 Aug 2025 Hon. SC ruled that Municipal Bodies across the country will have to sign post authorized feeding spots and feeders cannot feed in public places.

Sounds very logical, but is it doable exactly that way? Or is it as simple as that? The order is a bit confusing if not read between the lines.

If not public spaces, then does it mean Private Spaces? Supposing some feeder performs the mostly impossible task of collecting all the strays together at a private space (Which logically has to belong to him/ her) there will be more chaos. Feeders usually go down the road feeding individual packs of dogs of 5 to 10 in numbers and having their own dogly jurisdiction of about 100 m. Is it possible for the feeder to find a private space @ every 100 m? Is it possible for him/ her to call all those different packs of dogs spread out through a kilometre or more to his/ her own private yard attached to his/ her house?

Even if the second option be possible, it can be guaranteed that no passersby persons would be able to walk the street in front of his/ her house because dogs always hang around their location of assured food source. Either people would be afraid of passing even though the dogs might sit idly. Or the dogs would charge at them if they were even cursing the feeder in their minds. Yes, dogs can read minds by the smell generated by each thought in the mind. The science of scents is still beyond the grasp of humans.

Therefore, feeding spots must be the public spaces where the dogs presently hang around. There are very old guidelines of AWBI that define eligible feeding spots as spaces away from children’s play area or areas of maximum public footfall. Just let us think, are such areas really available in our congested country? How much away, that is anyone’s question. Dog haters would say, as much away as Planet Mars.

Simply by commonsense, such feeding spots should be public/ common spaces, whether on open streets under Municipal jurisdiction or within gated communities and feeding hours should should be such that there should be minimal public footfalls at such times. Signboard should read “All except dog feeders, keep away by 100 m during dog feeding hours and do not disturb dogs or their feeders.” Only that way can such spaces become PRIVATE to dogs and feeders for fixed hours.

The most comprehensive order seen till date about feeding locations of stray dogs in viewable at the link below that hosts the West Bengal Government’s Memorandum of 25.11.2024.
https://rkdpetshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/WB-Dog-feeding-circular-25.11.24.pdf

It focuses on locations with respect to individual packs of dogs and goes up to the detail of what can be fed to dogs and what can’t. A must read by all stakeholders as a feasible road map.

As an exemplary and ground breaking action and taking cue from the Hon. SC’s order, a previous similar order of Calcutta High Court and subsequent Govt. Memorandum referred above, Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has already identified feeding spots with time limits noted. All of those are in public spaces along the roads with stipulation of very sensible feeding hours to avoid public footfalls and also focusing on mandatory norms of cleanliness. See news item to that effect at https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/kmc-marks-487-stray-feeding-zones-with-pre-7am-post-7pm-time-slots/articleshow/123265198.cms