Municipal Corporation to sterilise stray dogs in Karnal

Parveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Karnal, June 29

With the increasing number of stray dogs and over 600 dog bite cases per month reported at Civil Hospital, the municipal corporation (MC) has decided to sterilise the canine population. The process of survey has begun and it is expected that the sterilisation campaign will start from July 10. A sterilisation centre will be established at an isolated place within the MC limits and under the supervision of experts of the Animal Husbandry Department, the castration process will be conducted.

“The MC team will bring stray dogs to the sterilisation centre where they will be operated upon, given anti-rabies vaccine and released at the place from where they were caught. The videography of the whole process will be done and proper tagging of the dogs will also be conducted,” said Nishant Kumar Yadav, MC Commissioner-cum-DC.

“We have been receiving many complaints regarding the stray dog menace and the increasing number of dog bites, so we have decided to conduct a sterilisation campaign,” said the MC Commissioner. He said the MC would pay the agency according to the number of sterilised dogs. Residents have blamed the authorities for the increasing stray dog menace in the city and said it was long overdue.

“In 2015, the MC had started the same campaign to curb the menace of stray dogs, but thereafter, no such campaign was started. Even after five-year elapsed, no step was initiated to check the menace,” said Prof (retd) IJ Bharti of Sector 13. He maintained that several incidents of dog bites have been reported in Sector 13 and other areas of the city, but the authorities have not taken any action.

“Now, we are happy that the MC has woken up from its deep slumber and is going to start the campaign,” said Sagar Nagpal of Sector 13. He further said in the absence of a complete sterilisation campaign, the stray dogs had virtually taken over streets. They chase and bark at passersby every now and then.