The Kozhikode Corporation’s Animal Birth Control (ABC) centre at Poolakkadavu gets a dozen calls every day urging it to capture stray dogs.
The centre, opened on March 1, recently reached the landmark of 1,000 sterilisations of dogs. “We have our jobs cut out for at least the next five years,” said V.S. Sreeshma, the Corporation’s veterinary surgeon, who is also the coordinator of the ABC project.
There was a time when the ABC project in Kozhikode seemed impossible due to public resistance. Many could not digest why the sterilised dogs were put back in the same neighbourhood they were caught from.
For many, the Corporation was supposed to take the dogs away from them. But not any more.
“We take the consent of the residents association heads or the institution heads before we set out to capture the dogs. Unless they agree for the dogs to be brought back after sterilisation, we do not entertain the requests. Also we inform them a day before the action,” Dr. Sreeshma said.
At present, the centre has three surgeons, an anaesthetist and five ABC assistants (dog catchers). The maximum capacity of the centre is 400 with 19 kennels in place.
The catchers are allowed to pick up only 15 to 20 dogs a day, as it can handle only so many sterilisations a day. This makes 340 to 350 surgeries a month.
“Since this is the initial phase, we are taking it slow. But we know that we can handle up to 400 surgeries per day. We aim to achieve that target,” Dr. Sreeshma said.
