The much-hyped Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rehabilitation Project of
the Kochi Corporation, started three months ago to curtail dog menace
in the city, has come to a complete standstill since March.
According
to the Corporation officials, as many as 40 street dogs were
sterilised under the project initially, but it failed to click owing to
a huge public protest.
“Our plan was to sterilise the stray dogs
and provide them shelter for a few days. They would later be let back
to the streets. However, there was a stiff public opposition from the
residents who opposed the move citing safety issues and public
nuisance. After which we were forced to let out the sterilised dogs at
Kundanoor,” a Corporation official said.
The Corporation has
sought the help of various departments, including the veterinary
hospitals in the city, to address the issue.
The official added that dog menace will continue to be a big problem, if people fail to cooperate with the local bodies.
“These
dogs, once sterilised won’t be able to reproduce. In that way, we can
bring down the number of dogs in the streets. The Corporation does not
have any go but to release the dogs after sterilisation because of the
lack of proper facility to house them,” he said.
Corporation
Health Standing Committee chairman T K Ashraf said the Corporation was
currently tackling the problem by identifying a proper place to set up a
dog shelter.
‘Winners Club’
Clearing the city of stray dog
menace is an agenda of this year’s Corporation budget. A project
‘Winners Club’ has been proposed to address the issues.
“We are
yet to identify a location. Once we identify a proper location, we will
move ahead with the project. We hope that the project will be a huge
success. The ABC project will also be mobilised in the next few months,”
Asraf said.
Meanwhile, Gracy Joseph, councillor, Kaloor South
said the dog menace is mostly felt at Azad road and Ponnoth Road.
Pedestrians and those going for morning walk at the Jawaharlal Nehru
stadium are often troubled by the stray dog. “A lot of hotels dump food
waste on to the roads which the dogs feed on. Strict measures to prevent
such activities should be implemented,” she said. The dog menace
isrampant at West Kochi too.
