The Hindu             03.02.2014 

Civic body back to ABC to curb stray dog menace

Animal Birth Control (ABC) programme will be reintroduced in the city to control the stray dog population.

The Kochi Corporation is planning to introduce the programme in the city with the support of non-governmental organisations.

An NGO had recently made a presentation on managing the dog population through sterilisation programme. The local body has in principle agreed to the proposal. A plan for implementation would be drawn up shortly, said T.K. Ashraf, chairman of the Health Standing Committee of the corporation.

The corporation is being flooded with complaints of stray dog attacks. On an average, the civic body receives 100 complaints a day from the public. Though the local bodies had earlier resorted to killing of dogs through lethal injections, the practice was called off following judicial orders. Animal lovers too had objected to the killing of dogs.

The animal rights campaigners have been stressing that removing street dogs from their locality will lead to a rise in the population of harmful pests including rodents. An increase in the number of rodents and a reduction in the number of dogs would lead to the spread of diseases. The vacuum created by the killing of resident populations will be filled by canines from neighbouring areas. Hence, it was best to control the dog population than attempting to kill them en masse, said Mr. Ashraf.

The service of veterinary doctors affiliated to the NGO, pet hospitals in the city and that of the local body will be used for the ABC campaign. After sterilising and vaccinating the dogs against rabies, the animals will be tagged in their ears. They will also be collared for easy identification. Dog catchers would be trained to net the animals using butterfly nets in place of the present noose which could harm the dogs, he said.

The NGO has offered to identify land for an observation home where the animals could be kept after the surgery. The local body needs to provide the necessary infrastructure for the kennels. The district authorities had to drop the ABC programme earlier following public resistance. Kennels had to be removed following objections from some residents.

A sensitisation programme will be carried out in the city for the successful conduct of the ABC programme. The dogs caught from the streets will have to be released back to their locality after sterilisation and vaccination. The public will be sensitised about the release programme as there was resistance against the release of the dogs after the vaccination and sterilisation. The proposals would be placed before the corporation council for approval, he said.