THANJAVUR: The Society for Prevention of Cruelty of Animals (SPCA), which set up an office at Nanjikkottai panchayat on the outskirts of the city a few days ago, commenced operations at its Animal Birth Control (ABC) facility on Tuesday.
This comes when the city corporation's own ABC centre at Raja Gori crematorium complex, has remained non-functional for several years. Inaugurating the facility, District Collector Dinesh Ponraj Oliver, who is also the chairperson of the SPCA, said it was set up to reduce rabies mortality, adding that as many as 10 persons succumbed to rabies in the district in 2022.
According to activists, at least 4,000 community (stray) dogs roam within the city limits. Around 700 persons, on an average, visit government hospitals in the city for anti-rabies vaccine (ARV) every month. Around 300 of them are from the city limits itself, officials said. SPCA office-bearers said the new facility has been set up to reduce rabies mortality, highlighting that veterinarians will be deputed to the facility from the Veterinary College and Research Institute, Orathanadu, to perform ABC surgeries in the afternoon hours. "Five surgeries could be performed on a daily basis," an SPCA member told TNIE.
Meanwhile, officials of the city corporation told TNIE that its ABC centre which was set up in 2015 would be renovated at a cost of `20 lakh. Moreover, the Commissionerate of Municipal Administration (CMA), Chennai, directed the civic body to pitch a proposal for a new facility at a cost of Rs 70 lakh, they added.