Amidst raising concerns about stray dog menace, the authorities have resumed Animal Birth Control (ABC) programme in Kollam city after an extended break.
Though the District Panchayat and Animal Husbandry Department had jointly launched a ₹50 lakh project to control the number of strays, it was lying dormant for several months.
The project was revived in November, but it wasn't implemented in the Corporation area.
Emergency measure
“But after receiving a large number of complaints about strays attacking joggers and children, we started capturing aggressive dogs as an emergency measure from Sunday. The dogs have been creating panic among morning walkers and even pedestrians are afraid to walk freely in some areas. On the first day we captured 22 highly aggressive dogs,” said said Dr.D.Shine Kumar, ABC Coordinator, Kollam.
While the project announced by Kollam Corporation is yet to take off, the Department will be conducting the programme in Kollam city for one week.
“There has been a surge in dog bite cases and we decided to divert a team to the city after getting the complaint of a person who was hospitalised,” he said
Asramam maidan, the largest open space in the city and the most-preferred destination of morning and evening walkers, has seen an increase in the number of strays of late.
“It also includes abandoned pets and strict action will be taken against owners who dump their pets in public spaces and roads.” Animal Husbandry Department has set up temporary operation theatres for sterilising the dogs as part of the programme and dogs picked up from an area will be released there after they are sterilised and vaccinated against rabies. After reviving the programme in November, the Department has already covered 24 panchayats, conducting around 3,000 surgeries.
Eight teams
The District panchayat had deployed eight teams that includes veterinary surgeons and dog handlers for the project and the authorities plan to implement the programme in 50 panchayats.
The Department had recently launched another project providing reflective collars for the strays in a bid to control accidents.Several incidents of aggressive stray dogs attacking cyclists and two-wheeler riders had been reported from the district and the green reflective collars are expected to stop that.