India's top court has ordered authorities to remove all stray dogs from the streets and place them in permanent shelters, sparking an uproar from animal-rights groups over the feasibility of a decision some say was made in anger.

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.

The court expressed concerns over rising "menace of dog bites leading to rabies" and gave an eight-week deadline to officials to finish the task. Delhi's stray dog population is estimated at one million, with suburban Noida, Ghaziabad, and Gurugram also seeing a rise, municipal sources say.