THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Menacing stray dogs are always villains in the gory tales pedestrians are reminded of before taking out to streets in the state. While talks fill every corners on finding ways to bell the canines, a factor least looked upon is the abandoning of pet dogs to the streets by its owners, once they are caught with a deformity of disease, adding strength to the ever increasing population of dogs on the streets.
The state government, which is now considering to expedite the measures to put stray dog population under control, is making registration of pet dogs mandatory, intended mainly to address the aforesaid problem.w“The pet dogs taken to the centres to get vaccinated are eligible to be registered. The owners have to take the vaccination certificates to the local bodies, enabling them to keep a registry of pet dogs under their ambit. This is expected to prevent abandoning of dogs to the streets by the owners,” said James Varghese, principal secretary of local self government department. This would become mandatory from October 1, when the Animal Birth Control (ABC) programme on canines is set to go full-fledged.
Though there have been several attempts by regional kennel clubs and animal rescue forums to register pet dogs, a full-fledged registration process across the state is coming into effect only now.
To attract more pet dog owners for subjecting the animals to vaccination and sterilisation, there is a plan to offer a cash reward of `250 to them.