Complaints from residents in all the 100 wards in the city make it loud and clear that there is a rise in stray dog population and that the Coimbatore Corporation seems to be doing little about it.
Almost deafening the complaints are allegations and counter allegations by the two animal welfare organisations that are locked in a bitter turf war for performing the animal birth control(ABC) operations on behalf of the Corporation for keeping the canine population under check.
From Vadavalli to Kalapatti, and from Saravanampatti to Kovaipudur one hears almost the same complaint – that the stray dog population has increased and there has been little response from the animal welfare organisations.
V. Aravindan of Cheran Nagar, Selvapuram, says there is no go-to person or organisation to either sterilise the dogs or treat injured dogs. As in the other parts of the city, in his area too there have been instances of the dogs chasing two-wheeler riders and they falling off the vehicles suffering injuries.
And, there have also been cases where the residents did not know where to take the sick or injured dogs.
A resident of Nethajipuram Housing Unit at SIHS Colony S. Anitha Brigith too has faced similar problems. “I have seen puppies abandoned by people along railway tracks getting killed after coming under wheels. This could have been avoided if the Corporation had carried out animal birth control operation in the right earnest.”
The absence of effective mechanism to control the canine population has also led to people poisoning dogs in a few places, rues Kovaipudur resident Dhaval Momaya.
Tackling the stray dog population and addressing residents’ complaints are two animal welfare organisations – People For Animals (PFA) Unit II, and Humane Animal Society - that perform the animal birth control operations on behalf of the Corporation.
The Corporation has entrusted PFA Unit II with carrying out the task in four of its five zones – all except the West Zone, which it has given to the Humane Animal Society.
The PFA Unit II, according to the Corporation, has performed a little over 20,000 animal birth control operations from 2011 to 2017 and none in the last two years. The organisation’s head Kalpana Vasudevan says it has reported zero for the two years because the Corporation closed down the animal birth control centre in Ukkadam, following protest by residents.
Humane Animal Society has sterilised and vaccinated around 9,200 dogs in the eight years from 2011 to 2019 at the Corporation’s facility in Seeranaickenpalayam.
Ms. Kalpana Vasudevan says that unless the Corporation gives her organisation a new place to sterilise and vaccinate the dogs it can do very little. And, the Corporation delaying giving a new facility in the last two years means in four breeding seasons ( a year has two dog breeding seasons) the population has again increased.
Given her track record of the number of sterilisations she has carried out, the Corporation should share its resources – the facility in Seeranaickenpalayam where the Humane Animal Society uses, she says.
But the Society is objecting to it on the grounds that the facility just cannot be split into two because there is only one room to operate the dogs.
The Society’s head Mini Vasudevan says the Corporation's proposal to share the facility will hamper her organisation's capabilities and the civic body cannot cite fewer number of operated dogs to justify the partitioning of the facility because the area the Corporation gave was only a zone as against the four zones given to the other organisation.
This turf war led to the intervention of Animal Welfare Board of India Member S.K. Mittal, who chaired a meeting with the representatives of the two organisations and officials from the Corporation.
Mr. Mittal says that in the city’s interest it is prudent that the two organisations share the Seeranaickenpalayam centre until the Corporation builds a new facility for the PFA Unit II.
Sharing the resources makes sense also because all that the Corporation has to do is shift the equipment and other necessary items from the Ukkadam facility to Seeranaickenpalayam, he says.
Mr. Mittal also says that he has suggested the Corporation and asked the two animal welfare organisations to explore such a possibility and it is now for the civic body to find a solution.
The Corporation officials say that they may arrive at a solution in the next few days.