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Dog shelters for aggressive dogs in New Moti Bagh and Dwarka
A senior NDMC official said a temporary arrangement to shelter rabid dogs had been made in Moti Bagh. “The agency has also hired an NGO for the feeding and caring of these dogs,” the official added.
New Delhi: Acting on the Supreme Court’s August directive to set up shelters for aggressive and rabid dogs, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has arranged to accommodate strays at the old veterinary hospital in Moti Bagh, while the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) plans to set up a much larger facility in Dwarka Sector-29.
A senior NDMC official said a temporary arrangement to shelter rabid dogs had been made in Moti Bagh. “The agency has also hired an NGO for the feeding and caring of these dogs,” the official added.
NDMC has also invited bids to set up a new fenced enclosure adjacent to dog kennels in Moti Bagh. The compound will have concrete walls, built up sections of steel and water arrangement, among other facilities. The construction work will be completed in one month, the project report states.
Meanwhile, a senior MCD official said the agency will develop a 2.5-acre compound in Dwarka Sector 23 to shelter strays. “The engineering department will soon float tenders as the background work and planning has been completed and budget has been allocated,” the official added.
The corporation already runs a sterilization center in the complex which also hosts the first municipal dog crematorium. Currently, the kennels at the sterilization center in Dwarka Sector 29 accommodate upto 300 dogs, but it also has a vast open area where a larger shelter can be set up and more than 1,200 dogs can be kept, officials added.
The Supreme Court in its modified order regarding stray dogs had allowed the release of non-aggressive stray dogs after being sterilized and vaccinated, besides banning public feeding of dogs, except at designated spots. The court had directed that dogs with aggressive behavior or those suspected to be suffering from rabies be kept in shelters.
The city, however, lacks dog shelters. The MCD has 20 Animal Birth Control (ABC) centers where stray dogs are sterilized and vaccinated after which they need to be released.
HT had earlier reviewed the Animal Birth Control program and found that the accountability of the NGOs engaged in sterilisation and immunisation of dogs needs to be increased. The civic body pays ₹900-1,000 to these agencies for each sterilisation and immunisation. The NGOs sterilised around 42,761 dogs between March and June this year. The corporation has proposed
penalties, such as reduction of 10% of annual payment to ABC centre, in each case of rabies related casualty and 2% reduction in cases of new births after sterilisation.
Delhi does not know the number of stray dogs on its roads. It is estimated that the stray population across Delhi might have reached around one million.
