NEW DELHI: According to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, the number of stray dogs in the national capitals is nearly 2 lakh. However, the figure is outdated and a decade old as the civic body carried out its dog census in 2012. No other dog census was conducted after that, official sources said.
According to the officials, the situation puts efforts to manage stray dogs are futile as the dog catchers tend to focus only on the dogs about which the civic body receives complaints, leaving out many who have not been accounted for due to long pending census.
“Census is the first step for sterilization. It’s difficult to accurately estimate the number of dogs in Delhi at present which makes it hard for us to curb the dog bite cases,” a senior veterinary official said.“The exact number of dogs in an area can be ascertained only after the dog census is done and only then sterilization of each dog is possible. Unless sterilization is done properly, the cases of dog bites will increase,” he added.
According to the guidelines of the Animal Welfare Board of India, 80 per cent of the dogs should be sterilized in each locality, which helps in curbing the dog bite cases.“However, it can only be achieved after the census which the MCD has not carried out in the last 10 years. So no one knows the exact number and everyone is. Working aimlessly,” the official added.
A recent report estimated that over 1.14 lakh dog bite cases have taken place in the last 5 years (between 2028-2022), officials said.
Meanwhile, Lieutenant Governor (L-G) VK Saxena has ordered the civic body officials to speed up the work of sterilization of dogs following the death of two minor siblings who were allegedly mauled to death in alleged dog attacks, which happened separately last week, in South Delhi’s Vasant Kunj, they added.