Strays considered menace
Vizag city has around 1.5 lakh stray canines though sterilisation process is on
By : bishwabijoy mitra
Update: 2015-04-23 04:36 GMT
Visakhapatnam: In the absence of proper measures taken by authorities, canine menace has reached alarming proportions in the city. Denizens, especially children, are often chased by packs of stray dogs and bitten too. Following the killing of a six-year-old girl at Guntur by strays, inhabitants from across the 72 divisions and Anaka-palle and Bheemili areas, are demanding the GVMC put an end to the dog menace.
Areas like Gajuwaka and AVN College that are filled with illegal meat shops are infested with strays. Even though GVMC is yet to do a survey, the authorities said that the city has approximately 1.5 lakh stray canines. Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) forbids municipalities and municipal corporations from slaying dogs and instead lays down rules for Animal Birth Control measures (Dogs) to contain the population.
GVMC officials said that sterilisation of stray dogs is being carried out since 2005 and since then 75 dogs per week are being operated with help of an NGO called Visakha Society for the Protection and Care of Animals (VSPCA). Since the stray population is still over a lakh, it is evident that the process has not been effective.
GVMC Chief Medical Officer Dr M. S. Raju blamed the laws for preventing them from taking effective measures. “According to the law, we cannot catch the dogs and leave them in faraway places. All we can do after catching is sterilising them and leave them from where they were caught, so that they cannot reproduce,” he said, adding denizens of an area often protest if the GVMC releases the dogs to some faraway places.
GVMC Commissioner Praveen Kumar said that a proper abattoir and a waste management system is on the anvil and will be functional from this year. That would help contain the stray numbers as there wouldn’t be much food available for them anymore.