The Times of India             10.12.2013

Corporation launches special vehicles to nab stray dogs, sterilise them

TRICHY: The Trichy Corporation's move to procure two high-end vehicles for controlling dog menace in the city has brought cheer to the residents.

The vehicles were procured at an estimated cost of Rs 15 lakh. They are equipped with separate cells for dogs that are covered with nets and each vehicle can accommodate at least six dogs. The government hospital here receives at least 20 incidents of dog bite everyday which are mainly from the city. Most of the victims are children, who get bitten on roads by stray dogs.

Corporation officials said they are on a mission to catch at least 20 animals per day and sterilise them. However, the corporation's proposal for constructing a full-fledged sterilisation centre in Kottapattu for animals is yet to begin. The Rs 20 lakh project has been a long-pending issue and the resolution was passed only during a recent councillors' meet. The councillors had charged out that dogs caught from one ward are being let out in other wards without sterilising them.

However, the corporation officials claimed that at least 306 dogs, which were picked up from the wards were sterilised during the year. An engineer of the city corporation, R Chandran said decks for the proposed sterilisation centre have been cleared and the work would commence soon. One of the two vehicles has already arrived and doctors will soon start the sterilisation drive once the centre is constructed in a few months' time, he added.

It can be noted that a few years ago, the city corporation along with an NGO had come up with a similar system at Lorry Shed along Madurai Road, which became defunct due to infrastructural problems.