Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (SP)
Mangalore, Aug 9: City mayor, Mahabala Maarla, squarely blamed the officials for the failure of the programme of controlling stray dog menace, in spite of added importance given by the corporation to keep the same under check.
He was speaking at a special meeting held on Friday August 8 at the office room of the mayor in the backdrop of an incident in which a stray dog had critically injured a two-year-old child near Kudroli in the city.
He explained that before 2013, the work of catching of stray dogs and sterilizing them had been entrusted to different agencies. "At present, both these tasks are being managed by a single organization. Therefore, we have been unable to get proper account about the extent of stray dog menace in the city. Animal Care Trust at Shaktinagar here has been conducting sterilization operations of the stray dogs. The response of the trust has not been satisfactory," Maarla observed.
The mayor also instructed health officer, Dr Manjaiah Shetty, to produce full details about the number of stray dogs present in the city corporation limits, number of sterilization procedures conducted on them, and other such details at the meeting being held in the city corporation on August 12 relating to malaria control.
Suma Nayak of Animal Care Trust felt that the number of stray dogs is increasing in the city because of the practice of the locals to release puppies near the market area. She said that on an average, 200 sterilization procedures are conducted on stray dogs every month. She explained that in case of sick dogs, they are released after they regain health.
When Maarla mentioned that he was told by a person from Yekkur that the trust collects money for catching stray dogs, Suma said that the trust accepts money when voluntary donations are made by people.
Standing committee chairman, Purushottam Chitrapur, wanted for launching of the operation to control stray dog menace on the scale of a huge campaign.
As per the figures available with the corporation, as of 2012, 12,388 dogs were being cared for by the owners while 2,352 happened to be stray dogs. As per one information, 7,709 sterilization procedures were conducted on street dogs between 2010 and 2014.
Maarla who noted that organizations which work for animal welfare are not allowing the culling of stray dogs, said that the city corporation will give importance to the citizens and children in the city and not street dogs. He noted that figures furnished by Animal Care Trust and the actual prevalence of stray dog menace in the city do not appear to be matching with each other.
He added that the city corporation will soon be launching a programme to regulate the menace of street dogs in line with a programme previously launched by Hubli-Dharwad city corporation to regulate the problem of stray pigs there, by seeking a report of the action taken there. He also plans to divide the work of catching of stray dogs and performing sterilization procedure, and to appoint a separate veterinarian for certification about the performance of sterilization procedures.