Animal birth control centres remain shut amid rise in dog bite cases
The PMC veterinary department has appointed non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to carry out the ABC programme at five locations namely Mundhwa, Wadki, Holkarwadi, Katraj, Baner, and Naidu hospital. Under the ABC programme, around 4,000 stray dogs are sterilised and vaccinated on a monthly basis, with about 300 sterilisations and vaccinations carried out at each facility every month. However, the facilities at Baner and Naidu hospital are closed since the past three months. While the facility at Naidu hospital has been shut due to ongoing roadwork, the one at Baner has been closed for electrical maintenance; officials said. As a result, the sterilisation drive has been severely hampered which in turn has affected the goal of effectively controlling the stray dog population in the city. Following the merger of 34 villages with the PMC, there is a need for more such facilities carrying out the ABC programme.
Dr Sarika Funde-Bhosale, chief veterinary officer, PMC, said that the road department is carrying out resurfacing work near Naidu hospital due to which there is no access to that facility. Last month, the veterinary department has written to both the road and electrical departments, urging them to complete the pending road- and electrical maintenance- works on priority; Dr Funde-Bhosale said. 'The prolonged closure of the two facilities is affecting our ABC programme, which is critical for public safety,' she said.
When contacted, Aniruddha Pawaskar, head, road department, PMC, said that he will look into the issue.
Of the Baner facility, Dr Funde-Bhosale said, 'We are following up with the electrical department to carry out repair work on priority. We have also told the NGO to inform us if they do not want to conduct the ABC programme so that we can then appoint another organisation to conduct the same.'
When contacted, Manisha Shekatkar, head, electrical department, PMC, said, 'I am unaware of any such correspondence received from the veterinary department.'
As per the last stray dog Census carried out by the PMC in May 2023, the estimated stray dog population in the city has reduced from 315,000 in 2018 to 179,940 in 2023; officials said. The 34 villages merged with the PMC were not part of the last Census. Still, no ABC programme has been carried out in these villages which alone have a stray dog population of over 1.50 lakh.
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About 14 millennia ago, somewhere in Europe and probably simultaneously elsewhere, a unique bond developed between humans and wolves. Provided with scraps of food when approaching the early encampments and settlements of man, the wolf soon became a frequent and welcome visitor, warning man of imminent danger and later assisting him in the hunt for wild animals. Thus, began the domestication of the dog and the establishment of a bond between man and animals that has no equal. Today, man violates that bond by allowing dogs to breed excessively and then abandoning them in great numbers, thus creating hazards for the dogs themselves as well as a considerable health risk to human society. 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It is now becoming recognised that removal of surplus dogs cannot solve the problem unless combined with other measures such as registration and neutering of dogs and education of the public The Blue Cross of India in Chennai was the first to start sterilisation programmes for street dogs--indeed it was the first to propose such a programme and set up its first free clinic in 1966. Thirty years later in 1996, they were able to convince the Chennai Corporation headed by M Abul Hassan, IAS, regarding the viability of such an approach. We called it the ABC programme to show the authorities that control of the street dog population was as simple as ABC. The Blue Cross of India took up the total funding and was soon joined by People for Animals led by Maneka Gandhi. The Corporation's only expense was to continue to provide the dog-catching staff and vehicles. 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Sadly, most municipalities did not implement ABC aggressively to reach the 70% coverage which would have stabilised the population. Sporadic ABC camps will not suffice. Since catching street dogs is the most traumatic part of the programme, many animal welfare groups supported street dog feeders only to get them to befriend the dogs so that they could be easily caught and sterilised and vaccinated. Many feeders, unfortunately, stopped with the feeding part and just began to dump newborn puppies at animal shelters. Armchair critics and keyboard warriors, in the meantime, instead of helping those groups struggling with overloaded shelters and large numbers of sterilisations, just kept using the double-edged sword of social media to find fault with what municipalities and local organisations were doing. The onset of Covid stopped most ABC programmes for well over a year, undoing years of work and virtually bringing everything back to square one. Having said all this, the recent order of the Supreme Court is totally impossible to implement. Putting captured street dogs into massive pounds will lead to massive and unbelievable cruelty. Such an experiment was tried out by a group called EAST in Taipei about 25 years ago. Virtually every dog of the thousands put in died due to infighting and unequal feeding--a clear case of the survival only of the fittest--till infections killed these too. Fortunately, a Buddhist monk who took over the organisation convinced the government to stop this inhuman practice and go in for an ABC programme. The Supreme Court order also goes against the ABC Rules and the orders of another two-judge bench. The order was also passed without giving a chance for other stakeholders to be heard. No municipality has the space or the funds required to run such pounds--euphemistically referred to as shelters. That ABC-AR works is not in doubt. 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