KOCHI: Seems like there is no respite to the dog menace in the city with over 15 people injured in a biting spree at Chengamand this week. This is not an isolated incident. The menace had been continuing unabated for some time that in April the Kerala High Court had said that human life was more important than that of stray dogs after a couple of them attacked staff, patients and bystanders in the General Hospital.
In the Chengamand incident, the dog had bitten off the nose and arms of an 82-year old woman. She had to undergo a surgery at Kottayam Medical College. The beast had been on a rampage attacking everyone that crossed its path.Not just in suburbs, even in Corporation limit, such dog attacks are frequent and many incidents are being reported every day, according to sources within the Corporation.
May saw an all-time high in the number of dog bites this year with 587 cases being reported. In June alone, more than 300 cases were reported in the first 20 days.
From lack of surgical rooms for sterilisation to unavailability of people to catch the dog, stray dog sterilisation programme is facing a lot of hurdles. “It is the local bodies’ jurisdiction. However, from what I understand, increasing incentives for the dog catchers and probably handing over the sterilisation and population control to another agency would help,” said Hibi Eden MLA.
ABC Programme: A failure?
While reintroducing Animal Birth Control programme in the city a few years back, it was expected that these attacks will cease.Every local body was expected to catch and sterilise the stray dogs. However, the lack of facilities to do so is a major concern. Though initially some municipalities and panchayats had set up centres for sterilisation, most of them are shut down now.
“Kochi Corporation’s Brahmapuram special veterinary hospital is now a model to others. We are helping other local bodies to emulate the model. However, there is a long way to go. It is estimated that in the 74 divisions of the corporation limit, there are around 11,000 dogs and we have only crossed the 5,000 mark. Definitely, a long way to go, but we are getting there,” said Mayor Soumini Jain.
Suraksha programme
Kudumbasree is organising many plans to curb the dog population in the city. A workshop ‘Suraksha 2018’ and related programmed are being organised as part of the awareness campaign along with a drawing competition by the Ernakulam District Mission. The painting competition is for kids below the age of 18 years. A photography competition is also being organised. The subject is ‘dog menace’. One person can only submit one entry and can send photos in the JPG format to cphotospem@gmail.com before July 5.