Amid rising population of stray dogs , Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) has set up a 210 kennel capacity Animal Birth Control (ABC) Centre in Srinagar.
As many as 60 canines could be sterilized per day at the ABC 210 kennel capacity centre at Batmaloo in Srinagar, Veterinary officer Dr Tawheed Najar said.
He said there is a legal intervention option as per the Glasgow 2023 rules to control the animal birth control for the sterilization.
“We have constructed 210 capacity kennels at Batamaloo and one more centre is coming up very soon with the capacity of around 100 dogs at Chatarhama in the outskirts of Srinagar”, Dr Tawheed said.
He said that presently utmost attention is being given to control the animal birth so that the canny population could be managed.
Regarding the dog bite, Tawheed said that it is a global issue not only in Srinagar or Kashmir but all around the world dog bites are taking place. He said that in foreign countries there are mostly pet dog bite cases.
“Under the Srinagar Smart City Project we have to make specific centres for the dogs on which the authorities are working at present”, he added.
He said people often call them from their particular areas regarding picking up injured dogs from their vicinity and they pick them to do necessary surgeries.
“As per the guidelines we have to release the canny in the same vicinity after their treatment. But, the people are not allowing us to release the dog after necessary treatment,” ghd said.
“We urge people to allow the government servants to release the dog at the same vicinity where they pick him for treatment”, he added.
While the exact dog population of Srinagar at present is not known, as per the last dog census conducted in 2011, there were more than 90,000 canines in a city of 1.2 million. Experts believe the number might have doubled in the past 12 years. The number of dog attacks is also on the rise in the city.
An official from the anti-rabies clinic of Shri Maharaja Hari Singh (SMHS) hospital had recently revealed to the media that from 1st April 2022 till 3Ist March 2023, as many as 6,875 bite cases were reported to ARC SMHS and most of them were from Srinagar.
