Hyderabad: The animal birth control (ABC) programme has finally taken off in the Secunderabad Cantonment area.
Every day 15 to 20 stray dogs are being caught for sterilisation and vaccination, according to the project officials.
Vet Animal Welfare and Rural Development Society, an NGO, is executing the ABC project in the Cantonment.
Citizens can lodge complaints about stray dogs with the Secunderabad Cantonment Board officials at 9490611186 between 10 am and 5 pm on working days.
Kishore Katara of Paigah Colony said they were lots of stray dogs in his colony. “A dog capturing squad was sent to our colony five days back. I showed them the hideout of stray dogs. Almost 80 per cent of the dogs were captured and taken away for sterilisation. We hope that stray dog population will be controlled in cantonment from here on.”
Some 900 dogs have been sterilised since September 30, 2013, according to the project officials. Radhaswamy Colony, AWHO Colony, and Venkatreddy Colony are among those covered so far.
Cantonment Board officials said colony welfare association presidents or office bearers must sign in the register about the number of dogs captured. They should again sign in the register only if an equal number of dogs are released back in the locality after sterilisation.
“The dog capturing squad will carry a register. An office bearer of the particular resident welfare association or colony welfare association or even the complainant or any one from the locality can count the number of dogs captured and sign,” said M. Devender, SCB superintendent, Solid Waste Management, who is in charge of the ABC project.
This procedure will ensure that the NGO cannot inflate the figures of the number of dogs sterilised. The Cantonment Board is paying the NGO '595 per dog for sterilisation, vaccination and deworming.
While the dog capturing squad is active only between 5 am and 8 am, residents said more dogs are out in packs at night. They want the dog catching squad to come in the evenings.
Vet Animal Welfare’s general secretary, R. Yadagiri said that sterilisation surgeries are currently being done in a temporary operation theatre-cum-shelter at Vempuguda near ECIL.
“The permanent operation theatre and shelter home for dogs being constructed by the Cantonment Board is nearing completion at Turkapally. Once this facility is commissioned, we can sterilise nearly 40 dogs a day,” he said.
