Narrative and Communications Strategy for Protecting Delhi’s Community Dogs

Context

Delhi NCR is facing a crisis. Over one million community dogs are now at risk of mass removal and killings.

This is happening despite India having one of the strongest animal protection frameworks in the world. The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, the Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rules, and multiple High Court and Supreme Court rulings all affirm that community dogs:

• Cannot be relocated.

• Must be sterilised, vaccinated, and returned to the same area.

• Have a legal right to food, shelter, and care.

• Are recognised as sentient beings with dignity under Article 21 of the Constitution.

There have also been landmark rulings extending rights and even personhood to animals:

• 2014 Supreme Court (Nagaraja case): animals recognised as sentient beings with constitutional rights, and entitled to the “five freedoms.”

• 2014 Delhi High Court: ruled that birds have the right to fly freely.

• 2018 Uttarakhand High Court: declared the entire animal kingdom as legal persons (later stayed by the SC, but still precedent-setting).

• 2019 Punjab & Haryana High Court: declared animals in Haryana to be legal persons.

• 2013 Ministry of Environment: recognised dolphins as “non-human persons” and banned dolphinariums.

On paper, India has a progressive legal framework. In practice, these protections are not being enforced. Municipalities are ignoring ABC, police are overlooking cruelty, and the Supreme Court itself has not acted to stop removals. Citizens are emboldened to attack dogs because they are still seen as “strays.”

As long as dogs are framed as “ownerless,” they remain vulnerable.

The Core Narrative Problem

The word “stray” is the root of the problem. It erases ownership, belonging, and value. It places dogs outside the circle of care and outside the circle of enforceable rights.

• Strays are seen as dangerous, ownerless, disposable.

• Pets are seen as companions, family members, and property protected by law.

As long as dogs are described as “strays,” removals and killings will continue to be seen as legitimate.

From Strays to Pets: Reframing the Category

The central move in this strategy is a category shift.

By collaring, naming, photographing, tagging, and adopting dogs — even through collective or symbolic ownership — we recode them as pets.

Once recoded, they inherit the protections, optics, and narratives of pet dogs.

This reframing achieves three strategic outcomes at once:

• Legal: a collared, named, adopted dog is no longer a stray, it is a pet. Removal becomes theft or cruelty.

• Narrative: the language shifts from “stray” to “our dog,” “community pet,” or “co-citizen.”

• Optics: walked, tagged, calm dogs are visually indistinguishable from pets.

In communications terms, this is not symbolic. It is enforcement by reframing. If the state will not apply the law as written for community dogs, citizens must apply pet law by bringing community dogs into the protected category.

Lawfare and Narrative Warfare

This campaign is both lawfare and narrative warfare.

• Lawfare: India’s courts have already recognised animal rights and community dogs’ legal protection. But those laws are ignored in practice. The intervention forces authorities to apply pet law consistently by reframing dogs as adopted companions. Theft, cruelty, and unlawful seizure become legal arguments citizens can use.

• Narrative Warfare: The battle is over frames. If dogs are “strays,” removals are management. If dogs are “pets” or “co-citizens,” removals are cruelty and theft. Every collar, every photo, every affidavit shifts the frame from ownerless to owned, from disposable to protected.

Communications Objectives

1. Establish identity for every dog — name, collar, tag, photo, story.

2. Shift public perception from “strays” to “community pets.”

3. Create confusion, delay, and legal jeopardy for authorities attempting removals.

4. Attract international support by showing Delhi citizens are adopting, caring, and protecting.

Strategic Communication Approach

1. Identity Creation

• Collar and tag dogs immediately.

• Assign names and visible IDs.

• Photograph and share online.

• Launch a unifying campaign: #NameThemSaveThem.

2. Storytelling Infrastructure

• Set up Dog Registries lane by lane (Google Sheets or Instagram pages).

• Record names, photos, areas, and caretakers.

• Report missing dogs as stolen pets, not strays removed.

3. Behaviour Optics

• Organise group walks with collared dogs.

• Share visuals of calm, cared-for dogs on leash.

• Shift media optics: “pets under community care,” not “street nuisances.”

4. Mass Adoption Protocol

• Citizens and protestors adopt dogs formally through affidavits or community ownership.

• Rotate fostering across homes.

• Secure community land for day-time care.

• Bring as many dogs indoors at night as possible.

5. Global Leverage

• Position this as the world’s first mass citizen adoption campaign for urban dogs.

• Invite international funders (PETA, HSI, Four Paws, Dogs Trust) to support collars, sterilisation, and registries.

• Global narrative: “Delhi citizens are adopting one million dogs to save them.”

6. Sterilisation and Vaccination Pipeline

• With identity and protection in place, NGOs and vets can scale spay–neuter–vaccinate programs.

• Registries track vaccination status.

• Public health narrative: adoption and care reduce bites and rabies.

  
  

Immediate Intervention (0–7 Days)

• Distribute collars and tags in bulk.

• Name and photograph dogs tonight.

• Launch social posts with stories and hashtags.

• Begin daily group walks.

• Start lane-level registries in high-risk areas.

Short-Term (2–4 Weeks)

• Begin affidavit-based adoptions.

• Scale registries.

• Report missing dogs as theft.

• Engage media and global NGOs.

Medium-Term (1–3 Months)

• Secure land plots for day-time care.

• Establish rotation systems for night fostering.

• Roll out mass sterilisation and vaccination.

Long-Term (3–12 Months)

• Institutionalise the registry as a city-wide citizen–dog identity system.

• Position Delhi as a model for humane, citizen-led urban dog protection.

Strategic Impact

• Delay and confusion: Authorities cannot easily distinguish “stray” from “pet.”

• Legal pressure: Every removal reframed as theft or cruelty.

• Public optics: Collared, named, walked dogs look like companions.

• Global attention: A unique citizen-led adoption campaign attracts funding and visibility.

Conclusion

This is not simply animal welfare. It is narrative and communications strategy.

It reframes dogs from “strays” into “co-citizens.”

It applies law through narrative enforcement.

It builds optics that change perception on the ground.

Mass adoption is not the final solution, but it is the intervention. It is the shield Delhi’s dogs need today.

Every collar, every name, every photo is an act of protection. Together, they create a communications shield strong enough to buy time, attract support, and force the law into effect.