THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The city corporation’s stray dog management programme has come under fresh scrutiny, with animal welfare organisations accusing the civic body of operating without transparency by refusing to disclose the locations where around 150 captured stray dogs are being housed.
People for Animals (PFA), a member of the corporation’s Local Animal Birth Control (ABC) Monitoring Committee, has alleged that dogs captured from different parts of the city are being shifted to undisclosed shelters, preventing members of the committee from verifying their welfare or ensuring that statutory norms are being followed.
The organisation is now exploring legal options to move the Kerala High Court seeking directions to the corporation to disclose the shelter locations and ensure transparency in the implementation of the ABC and sheltering programme.
Latha Indira of PFA said the organisation had repeatedly sought details of the shelters from the corporation, Mayor and ABC nodal officer, but had received no response.
“Even members of the Local ABC Monitoring Committee are not being informed where the dogs are being taken. There is no legal requirement to keep shelter locations secret. Transparency is essential because the welfare of the animals has to be monitored,” she said.
According to PFA, the recent Supreme Court judgment has been misinterpreted and the verdict does not authorise indiscriminate capture of sterilised community dogs from residential areas without adequate shelter facilities.
Latha also raised concerns over conditions at the corporation’s ABC centre at Pettah, alleging that healthy dogs are being housed alongside dogs suffering from canine distemper, resulting in the spread of contagious disease.
She claimed the facility lacks separate quarantine areas for rabies and infectious diseases and alleged that dogs are confined in post-operative kennels for prolonged periods without adequate exercise.
Responding to the allegations, an official of the Veterinary wing under the corporation defended the decision not to disclose the shelter locations, saying the move was prompted by security concerns following protests at the Poovar shelter after its location became public.
The official said around 150 dogs are currently under corporation’s care at an approved shelter. Health standing committee chairperson M R Gopan said that the allegations are baseless. “They are raising such baseless allegations to create unnecessary controversy,” he said.