Thiruvananthapuram: Just like the BBMP in Bengalurum the Kerala government decided on Thursday decided to cull and carry out birth control strategies to drastically cut down the population of stray dogs after 40,000 canine bite cases in the state over eight months led to a public outcry.
The significance of this issue can be seen from the fact that all party meeting was called for by the Chief Minister Oomen Chandy to decide on a strategy to tackle the issue. Local bodies will step up combing operations to identify dogs that could benefit from birth control and to kill the particularly troublesome ones.
“The government is committed to protecting the people. We will take strict measures to control the stray dog population. The veterinary department has been given instructions to ensure sufficient vaccination,” the CM said after the meeting.
Morning walkers were worried about going about their routines as nearly 70% of the bite victims were joggers and minors and they took up the case strongly with the Chief Minister. In the capital Thiruvananthapuram alone, 300 cases were reported last month. Crowded with bite victims, several hospitals ran out of anti-rabies vaccines.
Congress state president VM Sudheeran wrote to the CM recently to curb the menace but a meeting convened in Kochi to discuss the issue ended in a stalemate after popular TV anchor Ranjini Haridas and animal lovers stormed the stage demanding birth control measures without killing the animals.
Animal lovers cry foul
“Culling and poisoning are inhuman. Rather than resorting to these we can sterilise stray dogs to check their numbers,” Haridas said after the meeting.
Culling by way of poisoning is often resorted to by local bodies in the absence of adequate infrastructure to implement birth control. The practice has historically been opposed vigorously by animal rights activists.
Animal resuce kerala, an NGO, now defunct
In the year 2000, Avis Lyons, an Englishwoman set up a dog rescue centre near the famous beach getaway of Kovalam and in 2001, started Animal Rescue Kerala, a voluntary animal rescue home conducted animal birth control programmes. She had several confrontations with the Thiruvananthapuram municipal corporation, and they even tried to deport her. Ultimately she fell a victim to cancer, and had to head home after which her stellar efforts got diluted to a large extent.
Lyons continued her work tirelessly until she had to head home to seek treatment for cancer in 2013, with the dogs’ fate surely the worse for it.
