Silvester D'Souza
Daijiworld Media Network - Kundapur (RJP)
Kundapur, Feb 20: There has been some hectic activity inside the government veterinary hospital in Kundapur since Thursday February 19. In a first of its kind of initiative undertaken by the officials of the municipality, dogs are undergoing mass sterilization.
The problems caused by stray dogs is common in Kundapur as in other places. Dog bites were also reported. The councillors kept on demanding to control this problem, but animal activists resisted the measures taken by the municipality. But the municipal authorities wanted to put a full stop to the population of the dogs without resorting to inhuman measures.
Sarvodaya Sevabhava, an NGO from Bengaluru was approached to do the sterilization. The NGO started the sterilization process on Thursday, February 19.
Dr Biju Pratap and Siddarth Rahuth from Bengaluru are in charge of the operations which are done under the Animal birth control (ABC) programme.
Catching the dogs: Catching the dogs is not easy. But for this NGO, it is easy. A group of 5 people start the work at 5 in the morning and catch the dogs with the help of special nets. Tags are given to the dogs so that they are brought back to the same place where they were caught from.
Operation: It takes around 15 minutes for the sterilization of female dogs while it take around 10 minutes for the sterilization of male dogs. A small part of the ear of the dog is cut to identify that the dog has been operated, so that the same dog is not caught again for sterilization.
Programme: The current sterilization peogamme will continue for a month. On the first day 20 dogs were sterilized while on Friday, 25 dogs were sterilized. The population of the dogs will come down by this. Doctors say even rabbies will be controlled.
Rs 800 is spent per dog for the sterilization. Sarvodaya Seva Sabha has come to Kundapur after its mission completed in Manipal. Only stray dogs are targetted here, not the pet dogs.
Gopalakrishna Shetty the officer of Kundapur Muncipality has requested the general public not to let pet dogs out and to treat them with anti rabbies vaccine.