Amritsar Civic body sterilising 15 dogs a day

Charanjit Singh Teja

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, August 31

The Animal Birth Control (ABC) Centre has finally become operational and 15 dogs are being sterilised every day.

Veterinary officers of the Municipal Corporation (MC) said over 500 dogs have been sterilised after the inauguration of the ABC Centre.

The MC inaugurated the ABC Centre at Gumanpura Gaushala in the Chheharta area on August 10.

The civic body has spent Rs28.42 lakh on the centre and a private veterinary firm has been hired to sterilise 5,000 stray dogs.

In a recently released animal census, the Animal Husbandry Department reported that there were 17,062 stray canines in the city in 2020. As per the population of dogs, the MC would take three-and-a-half years to sterilise all dogs in the city.

Dr Darshan Kashyap, in-charge, MC’s veterinary wing, said: “We are catching stray dogs as per ward-wise schedule. After sterilising all dogs in a ward, we will inform the area councillor and get his written statement about the completion of the project. We overlook the ward-wise schedule only in case of any complaint. The operations are being conducted as per the guidelines of the Animal Welfare Board. We keep the male dog for five days and the female dog for seven days after conducting the operation. Then we leave the dog in the same territory after the anti-rabies vaccine. The project is running successfully.”

After the failure of several dog-sterilisation attempts, the MC had initiated the drive for 5,000 dogs in February and sanctioned Rs45 lakh in this regard. But the project did not become operational in the absence of required infrastructure. Last month, the MC completed the building of the Animal Birth Control Centre and started its functioning on August 10. A veterinary firm headed by Dr Ankit Narang is conducting operations and vaccinating the dogs.

Sterilisation drive started in Feb this year

• The Amritsar Municipal Corporation had initiated the drive for 5,000 dogs in February and sanctioned Rs45 lakh in this regard
• The project, however, did not become operational in the absence of required infrastructure
• Last month, the MC completed the building of the Animal Birth Control Centre and started its functioning on August 10