: The Tiruppur Corporation is understood to have forwarded proposals for establishing additional Animal Birth Control centres, to step up its on-going initiative to control the population of street dogs.
Sterilisation of street dogs is being carried out through the only ABC facility in the Corporation. The civic body is learnt to have sought three more such facilities so as to have one for each zone, official sources said, adding that at least one ABC facility could be sanctioned initially.
Rising population of street dogs is pronounced in localities at Vijayapuram, Mummoorthi Nagar, Padmavathipuram, Valayangadu, Muniappan Koil Street, Old Ramakrishnapuram, and Kalampalayam Pillayarkoil Street, going by the representations made by the local public to the city corporation for intervention.
The general complaint of the people is that the dogs cause trouble to pedestrians and motorists..
“The city needs to implement a comprehensive plan to control the population of stray dogs, such as sterilization programmes, dog-catching operations, and adoption drives. The Corporation must also enforce stricter laws to ensure pet owners take responsibility for their animals, and impose fines on those who abandon their pets on the streets,” Aravind Chidambaram, a resident of Thillai Nagar along Dharapuram Road, said in his representation to the City Corporation earlier this year.
According to Health Department, the number of people taking treatment for dog bites remains high at the district headquarters hospital.
There are also concerns that the dogs attack livestock and poultry. At Chinnakarai village near Palladam, there was an instance in recent months of a farmer killing street dogs in large numbers by lacing goat intestine with poison.
This year, so far, the City Corporation had teamed up with Thangam Memorial Trust for controlling population and eliminating rabies in the dog population. Homeless street dogs are captured, sterilized, let to convalesce for a few days, administered anti-rabies injections and returned to their original territories, a senior official of Health Department said.
This year, so far, the civic body has sterlised close to 1,700 street dogs. The initiative is an on-going process, covering 10 to 15 dogs every day, the official said, adding that the civic body was looking for the support of more like-minded entities to join the drive.
