Animal board: All’s not well with Chandigarh Municipal Corporation’s sterilisation drive

Sandeep Rana

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 7

The stray dog sterilisation programme of the Municipal Corporation, which was already facing a flak from residents, has now been lambasted in a report by the Animal Welfare Board of India. The board has found a number of anomalies in the programme.

Following complaints of “irregularities and improper implementation” of the programme, the board conducted an inspection of the Animal Birth Control (ABC) unit in Sector 38 (West) in October last year and found a number of shortcomings in it. This has raised several questions over the working of the civic body that had outsourced the job to an agency, headed by Dr Amandeep Kamboj.

“A wrong anaesthesia protocol was adopted. The amount of the painkiller, meloxicam, administered to dogs was four times the normal. This can impact kidney functioning in canines. The agency has been using unsterilised surgical gloves. Kamboj was handling the surgical instruments with bare hands, which is against the protocol,” the report observed.

“In spite of the suggestion against using unsterilised leftover suture material dipped in alcohol, the vet continued to use it. Dr Kamboj was taught the minimum number of surgical knots for chromic catgut and vicryl, but during the surgery, he did not follow it,” the report added.

Dr Devi, one of the experts who compiled the report, said the vet’s surgical skill was satisfactory overall. Although he did not know flank surgery for female dogs, she said.

On this, RK Garg, a city-based activist, said: “It is unbelievable that 450-500 dogs are being sterilised in a month. They are operating upon male dogs easily, but female ones are not properly operated upon. There must be an independent inquiry into the programme.”

Meanwhile, Dr Kamboj said they were adopting all procedures. “The team had inspected the unit last October and made certain recommendations. We will work on adopting these,” he added.

The 2018 census of the UT Animal Husbandry Department had reported 12,920 stray canines in the city. However, to the surprise of residents, the corporation claimed to have sterilised 16,300 dogs since 2015. The MC reasons “dog cycle” and “open city borders” behind the gap in figures. As many as 10,558 dog-bite cases were reported from Chandigarh last year.

Couple beats dog to death

Mohali: Makhan Singh and his wife, residents of Balongi, have been booked for cruelty to animals after an activist complained to the police that the couple beat a stray dog with a stick. The injured dog was taken to a hospital where it died during treatment. The couple claimed that the dog had bitten Makhan Singh. A case under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act has been registered at the Balongi police post. TNS

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