Sir,

Residents of Ramakrishna-nagar H-Bock have been facing the problem of stray dogs chasing children, cyclists, two-wheelers, vendors,cattle etc., besides making loud noise during night and thus depriving us the much-needed sleep.

They are also multiplying in short time, thanks to inefficient animal birth control programme. Several puppies are born and are roaming the streets and they are fed by residents out of compassion. There is a danger of puppies being run over by vehicles. This scenario, I am sure, is most common in many parts of our city.

It is not unexpected that in the near future some of the dogs may turn rabid and God forbid, may bite humans. All of us are aware of the horrible disease and death of humans and other animals by rabid dog bites.

When some residents approached MCC through the local Corporator what we realised was the huge problem of policy regarding the issue. According to the health officer, dogs should not be killed or relocated to new areas as per the directives from the Central government in charge of animal welfare. Lactating dogs cannot be operated to prevent breeding. Puppies cannot be picked up by the squad until they are 4-6 months old for birth control operation.

As there is only one squad for the city of 65 wards, hardly only one visit can be made to a ward in a whole year. Even when this is done, 8 out of 10 dogs run away and hardly any dog can be taken for sterilization operation making the entire scheme and system useless. It seems a case is pending in the Supreme Court against the directives of   the Central Ministry for adjudication.

Will the MCC please deliberate on this issue and provide guidelines both for public and the health department of MCC?

Is adoption of stray puppies by each household, keeping them fed and chained and getting them duly sterilized for birth control one of the methods? What about increasing the capacity of dog pound at the public cost to control dog population? They may like to impose a cess to create additional dog pounds. Will stakeholders like People For Animals (PFA), please come out with suggestions?

– Prof. B.S. Shankara (retd.), Ramakrishnanagar