The Pioneer 03.12.2010
Dog pounds yet another initiative doomed to failNishu Mahajan | Chandigarh
Yet another black eye for the City Administration. Over two years to the announcement of setting up of dog pounds to control the menace of stray dogs, the project is yet to kick off.
It appears that once again the implementation failure of the City Administration has left the city denizens disgruntled who otherwise were hoping to get rid of the stray dogs in their vicinity. This is yet another initiative of the City Administration which failed miserably; raising questions on the higher authority’s promises which are always remain unkept.
In view of increase in the cases of dog bites, the City Administration in January 2009 announced to set up two Dog Pounds (Animal Birth Control Hospital) to make the city free from the menace of stray dogs and also to provide a decent life to the stray dogs.
Over 600 dogs were to be accommodated in the Dog Pounds and People for Animals (PFA) was to set up all requisite support facilities and infrastructure in the Dog Pounds. Two acre of land for setting up of Dog Pound at village Raipur Kalan was also allocated to the PFA but up till then, nothing considerable has been done in the matter by the City Administration.
Nevertheless, with the passage of time the initiative seems to have lost in oblivion. “As of now, nothing substantial is being finalised in the issue and the work for setting up of Dog Pound is yet to start,” said an official of the City Administration while talking to The Pioneer.
Every year over thousands of cases of dog bites are reported in the city and the problem is severe in the southern sectors of the city. The problem has become more serious in view of the fact that the dogs are the most common carriers of rabies, the disease which is also on rise in the city. Several deaths have been reported in the region due to rabies and the cases of dog-bites are also on rise.
According to the officials of the Municipal Corporation of the city, the numeral of the stray dogs in the year 2008 was over 5000 and the number has increased now. At that time, out of over 5000 stray dogs in the city, only about ten per cent get sterilized, certainly making it challenge to control the population of stray dogs in the city.
According to the Centre notified Animal Birth Control (Dogs) Rules 2000 (“ABC Rules”), there is a ban on killing of the stray dogs, not even the ferocious ones and the ever-increasing population of stray dogs and unsuccessful sterilization have been detrimental towards curbing rabies.
Criticizing the laxity of the City Administration in controlling the menace of the stray dogs, a resident of Sector 15 Kanchan said that during early morning and late at night, we have no choice but to stay indoors due to the scores of stray dogs in our area.”
“Is the City Administration waiting for another unfortunate incident to happen to take any measure to control the menace of the stray dogs,” she rues.
Neelam, a resident of Sector 41 said that we look forward to the higher authorities for relief from the menace of stray dogs. They should take some considerable measures to control the stray dog menace in the city.
