Mysuru: Following the footsteps of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), the Mysuru City Corporation is all set to bring in a rule where licences for pet dogs will be mandatory. The BBMP has decided to implement the pet dog licence rule and it has been approved by the State Government on June 4 with the main clause being the limitation on the number of pet dogs that can be reared. The rule says that there must be only one pet dog per apartment.
However, the BBMP’s regulations have not gone down well with pet owners. Facing severe backlash, the BBMP is now thinking of placing the proposal before the Council and later implement the rule.
REVIVAL OF OLD PROPOSAL
Soon after the BBMP announced its dog licensing regulations, the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) decided to revive its old proposal to implement the pet dog licence rule. The proposal to implement the rule was mooted in September last year after a child was mauled by a pet dog in Kuvempunagar on Sept. 7, 2017.
Two-year-old Amoghavarsha was attacked and scalped by the family pet Rottweiler when he was playing along with the animal at Dattagalli Second Stage near Kuvempunagar. After the attack, the little boy bore several gnashes on his head and he underwent multiple plastic surgeries and other related corrective procedures at a city hospital.
Taking the dog attack incident seriously, the MCC had then proposed to bring in the licence rule within a week. Assistant Director of MCC Veterinary Department Dr. S.C. Suresh had then told Star of Mysore that once the licence rule was implemented, all pet owners in the city will have to get their dogs registered.
MCC COUNCIL TO DECIDE
Justifying the revival of the rule, Dr. Suresh told SOM this morning that a team of officials will visit Bengaluru to study the rule implemented there and prepare a fresh proposal to implement the same in Mysuru.
“We will meet the officials and veterinary doctors in Bengaluru and place the proposal before the MCC Council and take its approval before enforcing the rules,” Dr. Suresh said.
MICROCHIP INSERTION
Dr. Suresh said that the MCC had plans to make it mandatory for pet owners to insert a microchip on the shoulder part of the dog and the chip will contain details of the owner, the breed of the dog and its characteristics.
“It will cost Rs. 500 to Rs. 700 per chip and the owner has to bear the costs. Mysuru will have its own rules and regulations and enough care will be taken by the MCC to ensure that dogs and humans co-exist and at the same time, rules are followed,” he said.
60,000 DOGS IN CITY
On the restriction on the number of dogs in apartments and individual houses, Dr. Suresh said that one dog per family made sense. “However, nothing is decided yet and the MCC Council will take a decision,” he added.
As per MCC statistics and as per the dog census conducted in 2011, there are over 20,000 pet dogs and over 40,000 strays in Mysuru city.
There are over 20 pet clinics, 11 government veterinary hospitals and there are over 50 pet practitioners. “We will conduct another census this year to determine the exact number of pets and strays,” Dr. Suresh added.
OPPOSITION TO PET LICENCE RULE
Even before the MCC implements the pet licence rule following the BBMP model, opposition seems to be growing against such proposal.
B.P. Manjunath, the President of Canine Club of Mysore told SOM that the conditions in Bengaluru were different from that of Mysuru. “In Bengaluru there is no space and the population is dense and here we have ample space with less population. Licensing of dogs is fine but the MCC must not restrict the number of pets to be owned by a family,” he said.
“We will call a meeting of pet owners next week and decide on the next course of action,” Manjunath added.
This post was published on June 7, 2018 6:45 pm