2nd animal birth-control centre comes up in Ghaziabad

“Considering the dog bite cases and population of strays, we are focusing on making all three centres operational at the earliest,” the corporation’s chief veterinary and social welfare officer Dr Anuj Singh

Ghaziabad: An animal birth control (ABC) centre with an average sterilisation capacity of about 40 community dogs per day has become functional in Ghaziabad near New Bus Stand, the municipal corporation officials said on Wednesday.

A third centre is under construction near Siddharth Vihar and likely to become functional in next two months, they added. (HT Archive)

According to officials, this is the second such centre which is now operational, as the other operational centre near Nandgram conducts about 15-20 sterilisations a day.

A third centre is under construction near Siddharth Vihar and likely to become functional in next two months, they added.

“The second ABC has a capacity to house 120 stray dogs, and it can conduct 40 sterilisations a day. The third centre is likely to take about two months to get completed. Once all three centres are functional, we will have a capacity to sterilise about 100-120 stray dogs per day. The operator of the second centre has also been asked to carry out a survey of the stray population, and we expect a report in the next three months,” said the corporation’s chief veterinary and social welfare officer Dr Anuj Singh.

In 2021, a survey conducted through an NGO estimated the stray dog population to be about 48,000 in the corporation’s jurisdiction area that spans 100 residential wards, the officer said.

Officials said that they have sterilised about 30,000 strays so far, and estimate their current population to be about 50,000-60,000.

“Considering the dog bite cases and population of strays, we are focusing on making all three centres operational at the earliest,” Dr Singh added.

According to the district health department’s official statistics, government healthcare facilities in financial year 2024-25 administered 102,507 anti-rabies vaccines (ARVs) while 39,370 vaccines were administered during April, May, June, and July this year.

“About 90% of these vaccines were administered in cases of dog bites, and the rest in cases of other animals,” said district surveillance officer Dr Rakesh Gupta.