The Uttarakhand High Court on Thursday ordered the state government to remove all stray dogs from the streets within six months, reported the Hindustan Times.

The High Court also asked the state to consider framing a law to kill “dangerous stray dogs”, determine the number of stray dogs, and put them in a shelter or issue “adopt a dog” advertisements in newspapers, reported The Times of India.

The directions were given by the division bench of Justices VK Bisht and Alok Singh in response to a public interest litigation filed by Nainital-based Girish Chandra Kholia in August 2017. His petition highlighted that stray dogs have bitten 11,000 people in five years in the state.

The High Court directed the chief secretary to issue directions to all authorities concerned to take steps to check the dog menace in their respective areas. It added that the directions issued by the chief secretary will be binding on all authorities, including municipal bodies and other local bodies.

“First of all, the authority concerned will determine the number of stray dogs in every town, city and village,” the court said. “Necessary arrangements shall be made for the construction of shelter houses in every place.”. The court also asked the state to issue advertisements asking public and non-governmental organisations to take the stray dogs if they were against the idea of putting dogs in a shelter.