Shelter operations manager Kylie Betler told Newsweek that "microchipping and licensing your animals is the best way to reunite them back home.

In cities across the country, the feral animals are both loved and feared. The judges are forging into intensely emotional territory by going after the ones in the capital.

Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, meanwhile, said the “stray dog menace” had assumed “gigantic proportions” and assured that her government would bring in a policy soon.