Chandigarh, June 25, 2025: Sehjeevi, a registered charitable trust working for animal welfare in the region, has brought to light the appalling conditions and systemic mismanagement at the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) located in Sector 38 West, Chandigarh, the only government-run veterinary shelter in the UT. Sehjeevi’s Executive Director (ED) Nikki Latta Gill also raised the issue of the recent ill-planned shifting of animals from SPCA Sec 38 W to Raipur Kalan Animal Birth Control Centre (ABC), due to renovation at the former, which hasn’t even started. She informed the media about the terrible conditions of animals, mainly dogs, in Raipur Kalan, too.

“What was envisioned as a haven for injured, ill, and voiceless animals has deteriorated into a horror chamber of neglect, abuse, and abject suffering of animals. SPCA is now not Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals but Society for Promotion of Cruelty to Animals,” said Nikki Latta Gill, ED, Sehjeevi, here today, while addressing a press conference. Nikki showed media photos and videos of the horrifying state in which animals were being kept in Raipur Kalan, she even displayed the pitiable condition of animals in SPCA 38 W before their transition to Raipur Kalan. Nikki said, “The plight of the animals worsened on April 29, 2025, when yet-to-start renovation work at SPCA-38 W forced a sudden and ill-planned relocation of its shelter animals to the defunct Raipur Kalan Animal Birth Control (ABC) centre, originally designed as a temporary neutering facility with no capacity to function as a shelter.”

Sharing more details on the ABC Centre situation, Gill said: “The result has been catastrophic. Dogs are crammed in around 4x3 feet kennels, unable to walk, surrounded by filth, faeces, and blood. There is no access to clean drinking water, sanitation, or medical attention.” According to Gill, paralyzed dogs were left to die with untreated wounds, open sores, and complete neglect. Lack of CCTVs and elimination of volunteers from the premises have created a black box of suffering. The ABC centre, meant for a 3–5 days' stay post-neutering, now confines animals indefinitely in direct violation of The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, she added.

Gill claimed that despite an annual budgetary grant of approximately Rs 96 lakh for FY 2023-24 (as per the RTI records), the shelter has consistently failed to deliver even the bare minimum in medical aid, nourishment or humane care to its inhabitants, over 150 small animals including dogs, cats, monkeys and birds, as well as numerous large animals. She added that SPCA staff are extremely negligent, pathogenic liars, apathetic towards their duty, hostile towards injured animals, un- or under-qualified, and thick-skinned.

She revealed that startlingly, only 0.6 per cent of the funds were allocated to medicines and hospital care, 3 per cent to food, while a whopping 96 per cent of the annual grant went solely to staff salaries, raising grave questions about the prioritization and transparency of expenditure. “A shocking amount of Rs 92 lakhs out of the Rs 96 lakh annual grant went towards salaries. This was also pointed out in the Animal Welfare Board's 2020 inspection report of SPCA, and 5 years on, nothing's changed,” said Nikki.

Replying to a query from the media, Gill said: “SPCA at Raipur Kalan has become a torture house – a concentration camp. Confining dogs in small, unsanitary kennels indefinitely without basic food or treatment, mistreating them and then releasing them into society will not help address the problem of rising dog bites but will make it worse. Even prisoners are entitled to access open grounds for their mental and physical health.” “We demand immediate relief measures like open space for animals who have not walked freely for 2 months. Moreover, disciplinary action is needed against officials responsible for executing and overseeing this transition for the sheer unpreparedness directly harming animals,” said Nikki.

Nikki added, “There should be a temporary suspension of SPCA operations until renovations in Sector 38 are completed, given years’ long continued infliction of cruelty, violations, scarcity of funds for food and medicine, etc. The government has given facilities, but what's the point if they're not being channelized correctly? Are animals being brought in to intentionally make them suffer? There's no money for even a gas cylinder to cook food.” “We also call for a de-clubbing of SPCA operations and MC’s ABC programme as they have entirely different mandates to be managed independently with separate infrastructure, veterinary staff, etc,” said Nikki. Nikki ended on a note that animals and humans have to coexist peacefully and happily by taking positive steps for the betterment of both, as ill-treatment of one will directly or indirectly affect the other.