NILGIRIS: Following the recent Supreme Court order, for the first time within the local body limits of Coonoor, Kotagiri, and Gudalur, the district administration, along with the Animal Husbandry department and Tamil Nadu Animal Welfare Board, is gearing up to perform Animal Birth Control (ABC) operations on stray dogs.
Instructions have been given to all panchayats and other local bodies to bring in stray dogs to these centres in the following weeks. The dogs will be sterilised and given vaccinations to prevent rabies. Works are in full swing to set up the infrastructure, and veterinary assistant surgeons and veterinary assistants will be appointed soon. The centre is slated to open within the next month. Currently, Worldwide Veterinary Service is the only NGO in the Nilgiris performing ABC at Aruvankadu near the cordite factory.
As part of performing animal birth control, veterinary hospitals in Coonoor, Kotagiri and Gudalur have been selected, and in this regard, Tamil Nadu Animal Welfare Board will issue each hospital Rs 40,000 to arrange an operation theatre and procure surgery equipment and medicines such as anti-rabies vaccines.
An official of the Animal Husbandry department told TNIE, "We have completed a survey of stray and pet dogs across the district in July, and the population stands between 6,600 and 7,000. We have set a target of performing 2,400 surgeries for stray dogs as well as pet dogs up to March 2026 in these centres. With the help of Tamil Nadu Animal Welfare Board, the ABC centre in Coonoor Veterinary Hospital would be converted into a model ABC centre in Nilgiris, exclusively for this procedure."
"We have decided to perform a maximum of four operations each in every centre. As part of post-operation care, nine cages would be provided to these three centres, and after five days, we will inform the concerned local body staff, who in turn will release the dogs where they were captured before ABC," the official added.
As part of an SC direction, those running pet shops, kennels, as well as dog breeders, have been instructed to get licences on the Tamil Nadu Animal Welfare Board's website after paying fees.
Nigel Otter, chairperson of Worldwide Veterinary Service, said, "Despite having spent over Rs 10 lakh in the last seven years to perform birth control procedures, Udhagamandalam municipality has only paid us Rs 2 lakh so far. We have been performing ABC procedures for about 20-25 stray dogs in a day."