India’s top court has ordered authorities in New Delhi to start removing all stray dogs from its streets and to sterilize and relocate them to shelters permanently.

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.

Thousands of dog bite cases, some causing rabies, prompted the Supreme Court ruling, but conservationists criticized the order as an impractical and unscientific move.