BBMP clears doubts on midday meal for dogs
These are some of the questions asked by citizens after Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) announced it would feed stray dogs. Bangalore Rural MP Dr CN Manjunath questioned how the civic body can feed them chicken, and whether BBMP would be able to feed dogs in every city street. In response, BBMP has attempted to answer the questions and criticism.
Recently, BBMP floated tenders to feed around 4,000 strays one meal a day, at 11am, at nearly 100 locations. As per the BBMP's meal plan, each dog would be fed 367.5gm of chicken rice, so the streeties get around 750 calories. As per BBMP's estimate, the feeding programme would cost Rs 2.88 crore a year.
Clarifying doubts on dog feeding, Special Commissioner of the Animal Husbandry department Suralkar Vikas Kishor said, 'BBMP started feeding community (street) dogs during the Covid-19 pandemic. As a continuation of that effort, food was provided to a specific number of dogs last year as well. Based on lessons learnt from that programme, this year's initiative is an improvement and is also a statutory requirement as per the Animal Birth Control Rules, 2023, notified by the Animal Welfare Board of India.'
Feeding reduces aggressive behaviour and dog bites, makes it easier to catch dogs for sterilisation and vaccination, boosting the effectiveness of animal birth control and anti-rabies vaccination campaigns, and reduces the risk of zoonotic disease transmission, Suralkar said.
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