Animal welfare group People for Animals (PFA) is sterilising stray dogs caught by the city Corporation for the time being.
The recent incident in which a girl was attacked by a stray dog at her school in Poonthura had prompted the Corporation to employ two dogcatchers.
But the civic body has only one veterinarian to sterilise dogs.
The Corporation had floated tenders for doctors and organisations to spearhead a mass sterilisation campaign. So far, PFA had sterilised 30 dogs and the frequency of their puppy adoption drives had increased.
The forum had submitted a proposal to the Corporation to provide medicines and surgical equipment. The dogs were sterilised at a rescue centre at Valiyarthala. Since PFA had only one veterinarian, they approached the World Wide Veterinary Service (WWVS)’s International Training Centre at Ooty, PFA Manager N. Solairajan said.
“An Animal Husbandry Department official said that more doctors could be sanctioned for the Corporation only if the civic body sends a request. When we spoke to Mayor K. Chandrika, she said applications had been sent before. We approached WWVS to avoid delay in getting trained staff,” he added.
They were summoned by the Prisons Department to carry out a sterilisation programme at the Nettukaltheri Open Jail, near Neyyar Dam. Since the prison was being audited, the project had been put on hold for now.
