The Times of India               09.12.2013

Civic body postpones first dog census in Nashik

NASHIK: The Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) that was to conduct its first dog census in the city after the monsoon has postponed it indefinitely due to lack of technical manpower.

In August, the NMC's veterinary department had decided to conduct the census. The NMC would have been the first municipal corporation in the state to have conducted the dog census. A letter sent by the Animal Welfare Board (AWB) to the NMC's veterinary department in mid-July instructed the department to carry out the census every two years.

The census was to be done with help from a non-governmental organization (NGO). For this purpose, the civic body contacted Sharan - a shelter for animals. The NGO is recognized by AWB.

The board had also directed the NMC to carry out the census in alternate wards. Each ward is to be covered in one hour.

However, the census was postponed indefinitely as there was no written communication between the NMC and the NGO. Sharan wanted to begin with the census after the monsoon. But even after two months since the rain, the survey is yet to start.

NMC veterinary officer, Pramod Sonawane, said, "We lack manpower with technical knowledge. We will seek help from places that have conducted the census and execute it here on trial and error basis. I am positive about it and we will definitely do it."

Sonawane said that the civic body was still unsure about the number of people required to conduct the procedure.

Sharanya Shetty, the founder of Sharan, said, "The NMC did not show any interest after the initial discussions, so we started doing it on our own on trial basis for our records."

NGO starts dog census on trial basis

The NGO - Sharan has started the dog census for its record on trial basis from Sunday.

Sharanya Shetty, the NGO's founder, said "We started counting dogs and taking photographic record in areas like Vise Mala, Yeolekar Mala, Krishinagar and the surrounding areas with help from eight volunteers. Two teams carried out the process on Sunday and started marking dogs in a gap of couple of hours. We will repeat the process in the same area after two days. The photographs mention the date and the time which makes it easy for us to count the dogs. It is a tried and tested method."