THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : The city corporation is considering associating with animal welfare NGOs in the city to give momentum to its Animal Birth Control (ABC) Programme. Taking a cue from the recent joint drive carried out by the civic body and Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations (FIAPO) on World Rabies Day, and in the backdrop of a recent stray bite case, the corporation plans to launch an educative programme and a targeted ABC programme.
“Implementation of a focussed animal birth control programme is the need of the hour wherein the areas where dog clusters are noticed are targeted. Then the bites can be brought under control. Sterilisation is a long term process and public awareness is required,” says Dr Sreerag Jayan, veterinary surgeon, Thiruvananthapuram Corporation. “Last year we conducted an anti-rabies vaccination and a sterilisation drive on World Rabies Day in the city. As many as 10 locations were covered and several dogs were vaccinated and sterilised. An educative campaign was also part of this. The plan is to extend this in the city,” he says.
In the pilot phase, the stress will be on areas where people congregate, like bus stands, beaches, airport and so on. The focus is on catching and neutering female dogs. “At least 70 per cent of these will be female dogs,” says Dr Sreerag. Dogs will be sterilised and administered with anti-rabies vaccines.The animal welfare organisations FIAPO, People for Animals and Hands for Paws are envisioned to be part of this initiative.
“FIAPO will carry out an educative programme. We will be part of the team while catching the dogs and campaign among the public. The focus will be on making the people aware of the need to conduct ABC and remove the hostility towards dogs,” says Parvathy Mohan, campaign coordinator, FIAPO.
“‘The society should be ready to accept the dogs that are being brought back after sterilisation. Awareness on dog bite prevention along with making the feeders aware of the rules to be followed while feeding street dogs will be part of the campaign,” she adds.
Data in favour of dogs
Parvathy who conducts regular counselling at the General Hospital for patients bit by dogs says that almost 85 per cent of dog bites are from pet dogs. “I have been conducting counselling sessions at the hospital for the past nine months. I have observed that only about 10 to 15 per cent bites are from street dogs. We are also conducting awareness campaigns and bite prevention sessions amongst school children. As many as 1,500 students have been covered under this,” she says.