THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In an effort to address the growing stray dog menace, the animal husbandry department along with the LSG department is gearing up to set up ABC centres at government veterinary hospitals in the state. The state government has identified seven veterinary hospitals with more than 1 acre of land for the project.
The authorities have been exploring possibilities to tackle the challenge of the non-availability of land to construct the ABC centres. Stiff resistance from the public in setting up the centres on identified lands was also a hurdle for the officials.
Five out of the 14 districts – Alappuzha, Malappuram, Kasaragod, Idukki and Pathanamthitta districts – have no ABC centres. As per a survey held in 2019, Kerala has around 2.89 lakh stray dogs and 8.3 lakh domestic dogs. The state currently has around 20 functional ABC centres. The authorities are now planning to set up 25 more soon.
“We have identified 7 government veterinary hospitals with adequate land for setting up ABC centres. We will provide all technical assistance to the local bodies and the project is estimated to cost around Rs 50 lakh each. We have model ABC centres with recognition from the Animal Welfare Board at Kozhikode,” said an official with the animal husbandry department.Meanwhile, the official said ABC centres cannot be set up at all veterinary hospitals due to space constraints.