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Srinagar MC to sterilise, vaccinate 50,000 dogs in 6 months
The drive is aimed at effectively controlling the growing population of stray canines which has been a persistent issue in Kashmir with around 66,700 dog bite cases being reported in Srinagar’s anti-rabies clinic in the past 12 years
The Srinagar municipal corporation (MC) authorities are planning to launch a massive animal birth control programme to sterilise around 50,000 stray dogs within six months.
The drive is aimed at effectively controlling the growing population of stray canines which has been a persistent issue in Kashmir with around 66,700 dog bite cases being reported in Srinagar’s anti-rabies clinic in the past 12 years.
Srinagar MC commissioner Athar Amir Khan said the corporation plans to do animal birth control and anti-rabies vaccination of 75% stray dog population in Srinagar in accordance with the guidelines of the Animal Welfare Board of India and the Animal Birth Control (Dog) Rules, 2001.
“Request for proposal for finalisation of agency has been floated,” he said, while sharing the development on Twitter.
He added that the programme was finalised with suggestions from Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, department of preventive and social medicine of GMC Srinagar and members of civil society and NGOs.
Corporation’s veterinary officer Dr Javaid Rather said that they plan to do a massive sterilisation programme for which a tender was floated on Sunday.
“Within six months, we want to conduct roughly 50,000 sterilisations,” he said.
“A fresh survey will be conducted to ascertain the actual population of the canines,” he said.
For years, stray dogs have been a major civic and health issue for the people of Kashmir, particularly in Srinagar, where the conservative estimates put the stray canine population anywhere around 60,000 to 70,000.
Dr Hilal Ahmad, in-charge of anti-rabies clinic at Shri Maharaja Hari Singh (SMHS) Hospital in Srinagar, said that in the last two years (April 2019 to March 2021), 11,782 animal bite cases, mostly by stray and rabid dogs, were treated at the clinic.
“As many as 6,984 people were affected in 2019-20 and another 4,798 in 2020-21. We have been providing anti-rabies vaccines and immunoglobulin free of cost to patients at the clinic,” he said.
Dr Rather said the new effort is aimed at overcoming the drawback with sterilisation programme.
“Earlier, the volume of sterilisations was low as we had limited infrastructure. We could not perform more than 15 sterilisations per day. But now we want to conduct 5,000-6,000 sterilisations per month,” Rather said.
