10 years on, dog sterilisations gain pace in Kashmir
Officials concerned said that the speeding of the process became possible owing to the start of an advanced ABC sterilisation centre set up by Srinagar municipal corporation (MC) at Tengpora on June 12
Ten years after its start, the animal birth control (ABC) measures have picked pace in Kashmir valley with 5,000 dog sterilisations in the past four months. This amounts to 10% of the total estimated stray dog population in the Valley.
Officials concerned said that the speeding of the process became possible owing to the start of an advanced ABC sterilisation centre set up by Srinagar municipal corporation (MC) at Tengpora on June 12.
“A record number of sterilisations are happening. So far, we have conducted over 5,000 operations in four months,” said municipal veterinary officer Tawheed Ahmad.
The ABC was started in Kashmir in 2013 with one centre in Srinagar’s Shuhama which has 50 kennels where the authorities would sterilise five to 10 dogs per day. Officials had estimated the stray dog population between 50,000 and 60,000.
After the second ABC centre was opened at Tengpora across 7 kanals with 210 kennels, authorities have been able to perform 60 to 70 sterilisations every day.
“If we consider the figures of the past 10 years, we have been able to perform just 3,000 sterilisations. But in the past four months, have seen 70 surgeries per day at the two centres,” Ahmad said.
The work has been handed-over to an outside agency that is providing the manpower and expertise in catching, sterilising and dropping back the canines in their respective areas.
Every year, the valley witnesses 5,000 to 6,000 dog bite cases, mostly among children and elderly.
Kashmir valley recorded 6,800 animal bite cases, with over 80% by stray dogs, in 2022-23, highest in the past three years. Official data said that from April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023, 6,855 animal bite cases were treated at the anti-rabies clinic at Government Medical College (GMC) and Srinagar’s Shri Maharaja Hari Singh (SMHS) Hospital. As many as 4,912 of the cases were from the city alone. In 2021-22, the number was 5,629 while in 2020-21, bite cases were at 4,798.
In the past six years, the Kashmir valley has witnessed 37,467 animal bite cases, with 72% (26,742) of them in Srinagar alone.
Ahmad said that they would further pace up the work to meet the criteria as the work on a third advanced and bigger ABC centre has also started at Chatrihama.
“When it is completed, our sterilisation capacity will increase to 200 per day,” he added.
