Adopting a stray dog is not much different from adopting a child. There is a long waiting list ahead once you have registered, and the scrutiny is tough enough.

“We have around 300 people already registered to adopt stray puppies, but we cannot find enough puppies to suit their requirements,” said K.K. Baby, the implementing officer of the Animal Birth Control Project in Kozhikode Corporation.

The centre is now promoting the adoption of stray dogs under the Conservation of indigenous germplasm project.

Rajmohan K.A., who teaches at Government Polytechnic, Kozhikode, was the first person to adopt a four-month-old female puppy from the centre upon an agreement to take complete responsibility of the animal. The centre hands over the puppies, preferably 3 to 4 months old, after vaccination.

It was the concern that the native breeds would be extinct soon if every local body starts implementing the ABC programme effectively that led the centre to come up with the project. “We know what happened in the case of cows. After a lot of cross breeding, we realised that our indigenous breeds were much better. Now there is a greater demand for the Vechur cow and the Kasaragod cow,” Dr. Baby said.

In the case of dogs, he fears that the realisation may come too late, by which time, the loss would be irreversible.

Dr. Baby has a handful of reasons why the native breeds should be preserved. “Their disease resistance for one,” he said.

The imported breeds are prone to bloodborne diseases and are fragile. Skin diseases are very common among them. The breed Labrador is prone to Auto immune disease, a case of extreme allergic reactions to a variety of things. On the other hand, the stray dogs have fewer discomforts even when they run free and wild. The stray dogs can also survive extreme situations, like the unprecedented heat this summer.

Part of the ecosystem

The imported breeds may be good to look at, but the stray dogs can easily be part of the ecosystem. They are useful to humans even when on the street, as they catch rats and other pests. “But we are not broad-minded enough to acknowledge them.” Dr. Baby said.

While carrying out its sterilisation mission across the city, the ABC Centre is also on the look out for pure native breed puppies that do not have a violent streak so that they could be given for adoption.