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Animal birth control centres near dump yards poses major health risks

Anantapur: A majority of the municipal corporations and municipalities in Andhra Pradesh are violating the guidelines of the Animal Welfare Board of India, which does not approve establishment of animal birth control centres closer to dump yards.

This rule violation by civic bodies is posing a risk to the environment, public and animal welfare, activists say.

The location of these centres near landfills raises public health concern. When sterilized dogs are returned to their original locations, they may carry pathogens acquired from the landfill environment, thereby increasing the risk of zoonotic disease transmission to human populations.

This, it is said, could lead to the spillover of diseases, contributing to the spread of infectious pathogens, including those resistant to antibiotics, which exacerbates the ongoing antimicrobial resistance crisis in the country.

Animal birth control is practiced mostly among stray dogs to avoid the alarming rise in rabies infection. However, with no proper immunisation and abnormal birth of dogs, there exists a threat to the public especially children and the elderly in the streets.

The setting up of animal birth control centres in corporations and municipalities is mandatory. Previously, several NGOs were involved in the conduct operations, and they left the dogs in the same locality.

Lack of proper birth control efforts for dogs etc in many regions of AP is causing panic among the residents mainly of interior colonies and on the main roads. There has been a sharp increase in the number of stray dogs, and some of them are ferocious.

In recent years, the civic bodies have been establishing animal birth control centres. But, the Animal Welfare Board of India received complaints from animal lovers that several of these centres were established nearby waste disposal and landfills areas. This, it is noted, is a violation of the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, notified by the central environment ministry

The regulations mandate a 500-metre buffer zone from the boundary of landfills to prevent environmental and health hazards.

In April last year, the animal welfare board stated that the birth control centres set up in close proximity to landfills posed serious risks to the environment, public health and animal welfare.

Landfills emit toxic gases, hazardous leachates, and bioaerosols containing harmful microorganisms, which create unsafe living conditions for nearby inhabitants, including animals. Stray dogs brought to these centres for sterilization are particularly vulnerable to secondary infections due to their exposure to pathogens from the landfill environment, it is noted.

Post-surgery, their compromised immune systems further heighten the risk of infection, leading to unnecessary suffering, delayed recovery and a violation of animal welfare principles.

However, the Anantapur Municipal Corporation was not following the guidelines and its action of establishing the animal birth control centre in the dump yard area, raising many an eyebrow.

AMC has announced it would start animal birth control operations from the first week of February. Following this, animal lovers and environmentalists represented the board, citing rule violations.

The animal welfare board has also directed the states /UTs to issue necessary directions to the relevant authorities to immediately relocate all such animal birth control centres situated near landfills to suitable locations.

( Source : Deccan Chronicle )
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