DOGS POPULATION IN THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

DOGS POPULATION IN THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

Street dogs on the rise in city

 As the garbage mounds in the city multiplies so does the population of street dogs.But carrying out the vaccination and sterilisation of dogs in all the 100 wards seems to be a tough task with the veterinary wing of the city Corporation’s Health department equipped with only one full-time vet.“At the General Hospital alone, they record close to 200 dog bites a day. The Animal Birth Control and Anti Rabies programme need to be implemented on a war-footing. This can be carried out only if the Animal Husbandry Department agrees to appoint more doctors, surgical assistants and lab technicians here,” said a Health official. Even with this severe constraint, the sole doctor and dog-catcher tried to carry out the Mission Anti-Rabies programme in April. This was done for four days until the vehicle they were using turned faulty. “We intended to vaccinate all dogs as part of first phase of the programme. We even made crude blue collars to identify those dogs that had been treated. Our plan was to vaccinate as many dogs as possible after which phase two of sterilisation of the dogs could have been started. We hoped for more doctors to be appointed by this time,” the official said.

In July, a doctor was appointed on a temporary arrangement and on this strength, around 100 dogs were sterilised. The Corporation has also been eyeing an experienced veterinarian, B.S. Suman to join their team.

Prof. John Kurakar