During my tenure as City Public Health Officer in the Chennai Corporation from 2006 to 2014, I frequently received complaints from members of the public about street dogs. Aside from complaints of being bitten, people would lament that they were chased by the dogs while travelling at night.
On the other hand, dog lovers and the organisations like the Blue Cross would raise the issue of dogs’ rights and the cruelty of complainers and corporation while sterilising the animals.
Although our department had a veterinary wing headed by veterinary surgeon, we were unable to meet the public needs. The sterilisation units in Pulianthope and Royapettah were doing their best, sterilising almost 20,000 dogs each year.
The estimated number of dogs in Chennai (1 dog per 50 humans) was nearly 2,00,000 but the census count was only about 90,000 dogs. Our efforts were far from achieving the goal of the animal birth control (ABC) programme.
I decided to witness how sterilisation was done at one of the corporation centres. I was shocked to find what was being done was total castration -- in males both testicles were removed, and in females the uterus. Further, post-operative care was inadequate, leading to incomplete healing lead to more morbidity and mortality as the dogs were released back on the streets.It was real suffering for the animal, which has been a friend of man from the earliest days of human race.
We monitored the post-sterilisation events for at least 100 dogs and the findings bothered me. I found I agreed with the welfare organisations to some extent.I discussed with my team of veterinarians and experts at the Tamil Nadu Veterinary University at Vepery about vasectomy of male dogs to reduce the population.Everyone voiced the conventional view, defending castration as sterilisation procedure on the ground that it would also to reduce aggression in the dogs which caused them to bite people. When I asked about scientific proof, they blamed hormones as usual.
My question was if human vasectomy had proved so simple and successful why not do the same for dogs? It would take less than five minutes, had no post-surgical complications, could allow us to sterilise more dogs and help finally reduce the dog population.
The senior veterinary surgeons continued to favour castration. So I picked young two veterinarians and motivated them with science, showed them western publications and practices as evidence and introduced them to doctors performing vasectomies among men. A doctor from the family welfare department came forward to train them and they agreed to perform vasectomies on dogs.
We used the newly-opened operation theatres, wards, care home at the premises of Kannammapet burial ground. Vasectomies were successfully performed and soon even dog owners approached us to get it done for their pets.
The ABC programme was accelerated by these innovations and the beneficiaries were also provided free vaccination, speedy licensing of pet dogs and care at our well-equipped facilities at Kannammapet. Subsequently for the first time in corporation history, we conducted mass anti-rabies vaccination over three months, initially covering zones reporting cases of rabies.
The number of rabies cases almost dropped to nil in the city for the following years, although a few were reported from the outskirts.I also started one pet clinic per zone and expanded service to meet all veterinary public health needs including milk testing, meat hygiene certification, vaccinations and treatment of sick animals.
Many continued to raise criticism that castration is recommended over vasectomy and the latter might bring in other complications in the future. But I had witnessed castrated dogs suffering post-surgical complications and dying. We understood that castration caused a complete loss of protective sex hormones, leading to depression that made the animal more susceptible to infections.it’s of more cost effective and benefit in the light of public health .
We also encouraged the residential associations to develop the concept of community dogs to care, feed, vaccinate and utilise them as their guards. Dog lovers and our veterinarians were asked to train them to understand dogs’ psyche to handle them, identify sickness, and sensitise on the need for sterilization to reduce the dog population. The public should be taught to love dogs and understand that usually their behaviour reflects our attitude towards them; only a few diseased animals may behave differently.Let’s love our pet animal by adapting scientific ways for protection and peaceful coexistence.
Footnote is a weekly column that discusses issues relating to Tamil Nadu
Dr P Kuganantham, Former City Health Officer,drkugan@yahoo.com