Over 2,000 stray dogs sterilised in last three months in city

Charanjit Singh Teja

Amritsar, November 11

Over 2,000 dogs were sterilised in the last three months at the Animal Birth Control Centre in Amritsar. Under the project, which was restarted after a long break, around 20,000 stray dogs would be sterilized this year. It was stalled on August 5. A private firm, Animal Welfare Charitable Trust, has been hired to sterilise stray dogs in the city.

Dr Rama, Assistant Medical Officer, Municipal Corporation, said in three months, around 2,000 dogs had been sterilised at the Animal Birth Control centre. Initially, the MC was upgrading its centre and work was going on at a slow pace, but now the dog sterilization work is going on in full swing. Dr Rama said at present sterilization was being conducted in two Animal Birth Control centres at Narayangarh, Chheharta and Muddal village on Batala Road. She said in the next 20 months, a total of 20,000 dogs would be sterilised.

At present, stray dogs are being caught from those areas from where the MC gets complaints about some furious stray dogs. After sterilization operation and vaccination dose, the dogs are being released in the same area after three days of post-operation care. As per MC officials, more than 30 stray dogs are being caught and sterilized every day.

The stray dog menace is one of the major issues in the city. Cases of dog bites are reported every day. As per an estimate, there are currently over 40,000 stray dogs in the city. Sterilisation will prevent further increase in the number of stray dogs. Earlier, 9,500 stray dogs were sterilised by the municipal corporation and now the work of sterilization of 1,963 stray dogs had been done and further work was going on. The work of sterilization of 20,000 dogs is being done by the municipal corporation at a cost of Rs 3 crore.