Long way to go: Of 40K, only 7,000 dogs sterilised so far

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Amritsar, November 8

Even as veterinary experts and city residents feel an emergent need for dog sterilisation to control the population of stray canines, efforts made by the Municipal Corporations (MC) in this regard seem too little and unplanned.

The officials stated that around 7,000 dogs have been sterilised so far. With the stray canine population estimated to be around 40,000 in city alone, the city needs a vigorous sterilisation campaign.

Of the numerous roadblocks that had hit dog sterilisation work in city, the MC has again cancelled tenders floated for hiring a firm for the work. Sources claimed that revision of rates for sterilisation was the reason behind the move as tenders had quoted old rates.

“There has been a technical issue and tenders will be refloated with the new rates soon,” said an official.

The residents complained that apart from attacks on humans and cases of dog bites, dog poop on roads was a serious concern and a hurdle in the way of ensuring clean and hygienic surroundings.

A number of challenges have been faced to complete the dog sterilisation project launched at the Animal Birth Control Centre in August 2021. Even earlier, when a pilot project to sterilise 2,000 dogs was started in December 2018, only 1,451 dogs were sterilised in two years due to poor infrastructure.

As dogs live in their own territory, it is required that the programme is run in a phased manner to cover an area before moving to other area, said a veterinary expert. The experts stated that there is also a need to increase the pace of sterilisation. With only two sterilisation centres working in the city, there is a need to increase the number of centres.

“One centre can sterilise around 12 to 15 dogs in a day. At this pace, it will take many years to cover the entire canine population,” said an official.