KOCHI: The animal birth control (ABC) programme of the corporation, which was stalled in the city for nearly three months due to non-availability of veterinary doctors and dog catchers, will restart next week, according to the officials. Three vets and three dog catchers have been appointed and one more vehicle has been arranged for transporting stray dogs.
Earlier, there were only three dog catchers, which was not sufficient to cover the entire corporation limit. When the veterinary doctor left in April, there was a temporary stalling of the programme, during which time, residents started complaining of the rising number of stray dogs in the city.
According to an official from the corporation, doctors and catchers with an empathetic attitude are needed for the programme. Otherwise, the catching process would turn tragic for the strays, the official added. “Dogs tend to be more dangerous during night and early morning. So, catching would be done mainly during that time. Instead of the earlier method, butterfly catching using nets will be adopted so that the strays would not get hurt,” he said.
After catching, the strays will be taken to kennels in Brahmapuram, where sterilisation surgery will be performed. Post surgery, they will be kept at the facility for four days for observation and medication. They will be given identifying marks like a special belt to notify that the dog is sterilised.
An official with the corporation said the civic body make sure to catch and sterilisthe dogs empathetically. He said the kennels here have more capacity, even if the dog catchers bring more strays. “The ABC programme in Kochi has sterilised around 7,000 dogs since its launch. Usually, eight to 10 puppies are born in a single delivery. So, even if the programme is stalled only for a month, the stray population will increase in bulk. In seven or eight months, they will conceive again. To get a fine result in controlling the stray population, the programme should run for at least five years without any break,” said the official.
PROCEDURE
For male dogs, the procedure is comparatively simpler and needs less than 10 minutes, an official said. For female dogs, the procedure is the same as that of a cesarean section in humans. Kochi follows the same procedure approved by the Worldwide Veterinary Society. “Many people think that since the surgery is on animals, we take no extra care. This is wrong. Animals are also treated the same as human beings. There will be only a small mark on the female dog post-surgery. Antibiotics are provided prior to the surgery and anti-inflammatory medicines are given for two days. A mandatory anti-rabies vaccine will be given the following day,” he said.
Highlights
The ABC programme was started in Kochi in 2015
Nearly 7,000 strays have been sterilised to date
The programme was stalled for three months
Three new vets and dog catchers are appointed
New vehicle for transporting strays arranged
New vehicle
Sometimes the procedures used to get delayed when the vehicle carrying dogs suffered technical glitches. To overcome that, the authorities have arranged one more vehicle to catch strays.