Hyderabad: A month after the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation launched its stray dog adoption programme, the figures point to the fact that 234 stray puppies have been adopted till today. Chief veterinary officer of GHMC, Venkateshwar Reddy, said these numbers weren’t dismal, considering the programme was launched just last month on April 24 and that the city has been prone to buying costly breeds of dogs.
“When people adopt street dogs, it’s a step towards fixing the dog menace,” said Dr Abdul Vakil, assistant veterinary director of the West Zone, a zone that saw 44 dog adoptions till now. When asked why the number of dogs wasn’t coming down despite adoptions and sterilisation drives, Mr Reddy said, “It is a well-known fact that not all municipalities are efficient like GHMC. We have an elaborate infrastructure in place to help the public and the animals. So the numbers will take time to go down.”
Praising the animal care units managed by his department, he said, they were better maintained than hospitals for humans and the public must opt for Indian breeds rather than pedigree dogs, for which they pay huge sums of money. As per the rules, a dog must be 45 days to 2 months old before it can be given for adoption. The GHMC keeps a stock of 5-10 puppies at their Animal Care Centres. The GHMC has a foolproof dog adoption process where details of the places and persons where the dogs are procured, and to whom they are given up for adoption, are maintained. The adoptive owners are also guided on how to take care of the dog.
Dogs adopted via GHMC’s programme receive free checkups, sterilisation and anti-rabies vaccinations at the Animal Care Centres in each of the five GHMC zones. “Nobody comes forward to adopt street dogs but are the first to complain about them, so, I went ahead and adopted one,” said Murali, a resident of Kukatpally who adopted a stray last month.
