THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Thiruvananthapuram International Airport has been facing a serious stray dog menace, with dogs roaming around the terminal buildings posing a threat to passengers, airport staff and the public.
In a recent incident, a passenger was attacked by a stray dog at the entrance area of the international terminal on Friday.
The injured passenger was unable to board his flight and had to be taken to the General Hospital for treatment. Following this, the airport authorities wrote a letter to the city corporation seeking intervention in the matter. A team under the city corporation caught the dog involved in the attack and kept it under rehabilitation.
The airport authorities told TNIE that the airport has witnessed multiple dog attack incidents in the recent past. Currently, there are around 15 to 20 dogs on the airport premises and the authorities are unable to keep them away as the area is always open.
Veterinary surgeon Dr Sreerag J of the city corporation told TNIE that the civic body has sterilised and vaccinated all stray dogs on the airport premises. “As per the law, we cannot catch the dogs and relocate them elsewhere. Under the Animal Birth Control Act, the dogs should be released at the same spot from where they were caught after sterilisation,” said Sreerag. According to him, the availability of food is one of the reasons why stray dogs continue to roam around the airport.
Last year in July, around 20 stray dogs caught from the airport premises were culled and buried by the airport authorities to control the menace. At that time, People for Animals (PFA) alerted the Valiyathura police, following which an FIR was filed against the Airport Authority and four other people involved in the culling and burial of the dogs.
Meanwhile, PFA Thiruvananthapuram unit head Latha Indira said that the dogs at the airport are very friendly. “I have seen cabin crew members feeding them and they are friendly community dogs. However, we have received reports that people are releasing dogs caught from other places on the airport premises. We are investigating into it,” she said.