The increasing stray dog menace has raised serious concerns among the residents of Tiruchi.
The issue is not restricted to one or two places in the city. Residents across the city from Crawford and Edamalaipatti Pudur in the south, Thiruvanaikoil and Srirangam in the north and Thiruverumbur in the east and Uyyakondan Thirumalai in the west are appalled at the way the Tiruchi City Corporation is handling the issue.
According to a thumb rule of veterinarians, the population of stray dogs will be one fifth of human population in towns, cities or villages. Though there are no exact details on the stray dog population in the city, a leading veterinarian said that it would cross the five-digit mark.
It is common to see stray dogs roam around in packs and scavenge around the piles of garbage. The number of dogs roaming along the streets appears to have gone up rapidly in recent weeks in the city, forcing the people particularly elders and school-going children to be evasive in order to escape from stray dogs.
On an average, the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital receives about 20 patients for dog bite treatment daily. It is not restricted to just humans alone. The animal husbandry clinic at Palakarai receives an average of five domestic animals such as goat and cattle for dog bite treatment daily.
The Corporation, which is mandated to take action on the issue, is supposed to carry out sustained animal birth control operation so as to control the canine population. But there are complaints that the Corporation is not serious in its drive in controlling canine population. Though the civic body has engaged a non-government organisation to carry out animal birth control operation, many feel that the existing mechanism is not efficient enough to check their population.
“Stray dogs are roaming in large number in many streets. We are really scared of them. They pose problem to children and elders,” says M. Kannan of Kumaran Nagar.
A leading veterinarian said it was necessary to administer rabies vaccination to stray dogs too.
G. Ramakrishnan, Honorary Animal Welfare Officer, Animal Welfare Board of India, Tiruchi, said the population of stray dogs would naturally come down during the monsoon period. The largescale birth of stray dogs could be effectively controlled if the Corporation was serious and transparent in its efforts. There should be no room for maintaining fake records on surgeries. The number of birth control surgeries should be increased to at least 5,000 per year. Moreover, more NGOs should be engaged in the drive. The sterilised dogs should be kept in the post-operative ward for seven days and relocated to places from where they were captured.
