Thiruvananthapuram City Corporation is about to tackle the increasing
dog menace, as it has promised to arrange two more veterinary doctors
and two surgical assistants to carry out the Animal Birth Control (ABC)
programme.

In the Corporation council meeting held on Saturday,
Health Standing Committee chairperson S Pushpalatha said that this was
decided at a meeting convened by the district veterinary officer the
other day.

After the only veterinary surgeon in the Corporation
retired in last March, the Corporation had to wait to get another
veterinary surgeon and later when the slaughter house at Kunnukuzhy
closed, the veterinary doctor there too joined the dog squad. The
insufficient number of surgeons badly affected the ABC programme.

The
dog squad’s only vehicle was under repair often. Now the Corporation is
moving ahead to arrange one more vehicle to catch dogs. It has been
identified that more than one lakh stray dogs are roaming in the city
and the number of female dogs are more.

When complaints from those
who became victims  of the dog attacks increased, the Corporation
conducted a drive the other day in Thirumala and caught 10 dogs
together.

Pushpalatha also told the council that the drive would
be extended to Pettah and PMG Junction in the city to catch more dogs in
the coming days. Health and Sanitation Committees in the wards would
also be convened to chalk out an action plan to deal with the dog menace
at the ward- level.