New Delhi, February 27, 2026: Mars, Incorporated has announced a USD 726,000 global grant through the Mars Impact Fund to support science-led dog population management, with India identified as a key implementation market. The programme will be led in India by Humane World for Animals and rolled out across Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad.
The initiative focuses on sterilisation, rabies vaccination, expanded veterinary access and institutional capacity building in regions with high free-roaming dog populations. It aims to strengthen municipal systems and professional training while integrating community engagement.
“Delivering impact starts with listening to communities and partnering with organisations that understand local needs,” said Michelle Grogg, Executive Director, Mars Impact Fund. “Our partnership with Humane World for Animals reflects this approach by helping expand access to veterinary care and training in communities where it is needed most.”
Under the programme, Humane World for Animals will support high-volume spay-neuter services and establish India’s first dedicated National Animal Birth Control (ABC) Training Center in Lucknow. A mobile training and capacity-building programme for animal welfare organisations will also be introduced.
In Hyderabad and Ahmedabad, the partnership will implement a city-supported pet welfare initiative to improve vaccination coverage and promote registration of owned dogs. The effort will combine vaccination campaigns with awareness and communication drives.
India has one of the largest free-roaming dog populations globally. While the Animal Birth Control Rules, 2023 provide a legal framework for humane management, implementation remains uneven due to infrastructure and funding gaps. Sustained sterilisation coverage—often benchmarked at 70% or higher—is widely considered necessary to stabilise and gradually reduce street dog populations.
Manish Syag, Managing Director, Mars Pet Nutrition India, said, “India is at a defining moment in how it manages human–animal coexistence. According to Mars’ State of Pet Homelessness Report 2023, nearly 69 million dogs and cats in India are without secure homes. These figures reinforce that free-roaming dog populations cannot be addressed through fragmented or short-term measures. Sustainable progress requires science, scale, and institutional coordination. Through this initiative, we aim to advance sterilisation coverage, vaccination access, and professional capacity building in alignment with the widely recognised 70 per cent sterilisation benchmark necessary for long-term population stability. When cities move toward structured, science-led implementation, it demonstrates what modern, humane urban systems can achieve. In one of the world’s fastest-urbanising nations, this means strengthening municipal capability, expanding veterinary capacity, and enabling communities to participate responsibly. This initiative is more than a grant; it represents a long-term blueprint for building safer, healthier, and more resilient cities for both people and animals.”
Alokparna Sengupta, Managing Director, Humane World for Animals India, said, “What better partners than Mars to work together to address one of the biggest challenges surrounding street dogs - human - dog conflict. We are delighted to be partnering with them! By promoting science-led Animal Birth Control programs and strengthening human-dog interactions through community engagement, we are working towards long-term solutions. Through high-volume sterilisation, vaccination, and community engagement initiatives in states like Uttarakhand and cities like Lucknow, we are demonstrating how these programs effectively reduce conflict, dog bite incidents and rabies risks. Our expansion of mobile animal clinics in underserved regions is further supporting community-driven solutions that make our neighbourhoods safer and healthier and addresses street animal welfare.”
The Mars Impact Fund plans to contribute $85 million globally between 2025 and 2027 and expects to distribute $50 million annually from 2028 onward as part of its long-term philanthropic commitments.
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