The Animal Birth Control (ABC) Centre, a long-pending demand of the residents of Kozhikode city, became a reality on Friday when Revenue Minister E. Chandrasekharan opened the facility at Poolakkadavu.
The Minister called for extreme care while handling dogs and claimed that over 1 lakh street dogs have been sterilised in the State so far. Mayor Thottathil Raveendran presided over the event.
The ABC Centre, which was proposed over four years ago, works completely based on the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) of the Animal Welfare Board of India. The first stage of the project involves capturing dogs with the help of trained dog catchers. At the Centre, dogs will undergo sterilisation surgery after which they will be taken care of at the post operative wards for three to five days or until the wound heals. Later, they will be administered anti-rabies vaccine before releasingthem to the same neighbourhood from where they are caught . Follow-up vaccinations will be carried out on dogs every year.
The employees at the centre include a programme manager, an anaesthetist, four surgeons, five dog catchers, two attenders and a sweeper.
The centre has source-level waste management equipment such as incinerators and a waste treatment plant.
Dean of Government Veterinary College, Mannuthy, C. Latha opened the seminar that followed. Health Officer of the Corporation R.S. Gopakumar spoke on ‘Reducing stray dog menace and public health’ while veterinary surgeon C.K. Nidhin spoke on ‘Role of civic society in implementation of ABC.’
District Collector S. Sambasiva Rao, Deputy Mayor Meera Darshak and standing committee chairpersons of the Corporation were present.