Thiruvananthapuram Corporation survey on pet dogs begins

Thiruvananthapuram: Thiruvananthapuram Corporation started its first steps towards installing microchip readers in every pet dog on Monday, with details of pet dogs being collected from 19 wards. This is aimed at issuing licences to dog owners and ensuring accountability from them. Representatives of animal welfare associations had earlier expressed concern over dog breeders abandoning dogs, adding to the number of strays on the street. Owners, for a fee of '100, can get the chip installed, get the dog vaccinated and get a licence from the Corporation.

The programme will be implemented with the support of 15 government-owned veterinary institutions. In addition to this, 15 or 20 veterinarians will be enrolled so that the maximum number of pet dogs are covered. The cost of one RFID procedure is estimated to be Rs 150, and that of the vaccination is Rs 35. The Corporation has set aside Rs 75 lakhs for the dog licensing project. The pet dog survey will collect details of dogs including its photos, and its owners.

These details will be fed into a unique RFID chip, which will be later installed into the dogs. “A dog lives for up to 15 years and the chip can last for around 20 years. The RFID code is unique and cannot be replicated. So owners can always be tracked,” says Dr Prem Jain, Senior Veterinary Surgeon, Veterinary Hospital, Pettah. This is part of the '5 crores R-ABC programme (Rabies and Animal Birth Control programme) by the Corporation to deal with the man-animal conflict on the streets.

ABC ‘quite slow’

The number of dogs within Thiruvananthapuram Corporation which have been sterilised during the period April 2016-March 2017 is 861. The rate of sterilisation is quite slow, as there are thousands of stray dogs. Sources in the Corporation say that there were 25,500 dogs in the city of which 9,500 were strays, as per a survey conducted in 2012. “But our estimate is that the actual figures are much higher,” said an official. Now the Corporation has begun a survey to ascertain the actual number of dogs in the city.

“Though we were told that dogs would be sterilised and brought back to the same ward, the ABC programme is not taking place. As the parliamentary party secretary, I am in touch with BJP councillors from 35 wards and personally know the case of Tirumala, Poojappura and Pangode, apart from my ward Trikkanna-puram,” said Thrikkan-napuram councillor K Anil Kumar. Earlier only 60 or 70 ABC procedures would take place every month, and over the past three or four months, the monthly rate increased to 100-110. Corporation officials say that the rate of ABC would further pick up, when the R-ABC programme starts.