BENGALURU: Finally after much delay, the much-needed stray dog survey in the city will kick off next month. The survey is required to put in place birth control strategies and also initiate rabies control programmes, both of which require a budget to be allocated based on the survey figures.
The Worldwide Veterinary Service (WVS), a UK-based charitable trust that runs the WVS ITC (India International Training Centre) in Tamil Nadu, has come forward to conduct the survey free of cost for the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).
“They will provide us with their app and technical expertise to geotag stray dogs and we will support them with our staff at the zonal level. Assistant directors of the Animal Husbandry Department and veterinary livestock inspectors will aid them at each zone. The dogs will be divided into categories such as male, female, neutered, non-neutered or pregnant,” an Animal Husbandry Department official said.
BBMP special commissioner D Randeep said, “We got the approval of BBMP commissioner on Monday for the survey. It will take place between September 3 and September 13.”
WVS is an Animal Welfare Board of India-recognised organisation that trains vets, animal rescuers and vet assistants. Instead of covering each and every dog, WVS will conduct a population estimation of some areas of the city from which the total figure will be extrapolated.
“It is not possible to go to every nook and corner. Hence, we will sample areas such as markets and high-density areas, divide them on population size and extrapolate the estimated number of stray dogs in the city,” said Dr Gowri Yale, scientific and technical manager, WVS-Mission Rabies Project.
From the estimated figures, details like the ratio of male to female dogs, animals that are neutered, those with puppies and others will be recorded to give the civic body an idea regarding the reproduction capacity of stray dogs and the expected population turnover if no birth control measures are taken.
“We have had a couple of training sessions with BBMP staffers who will go on the sites. A report will be submitted after the end of the survey giving details about the density of dogs in different areas, distribution, charts and expected population turnover. Food availability impacts the population of dogs and what impacts food is garbage management,” Yale said.