Community dogs roaming around the streets are not uncommon in Puducherry.
So far, no efforts have been made to determine the number of dogs that roam around the streets in various municipalities and communes in Puducherry. On Monday, the Department of Local Area Development began a census in these areas. Early morning walkers on the beach saw a group of municipality workers with a clipboard counting the dogs.
According to an official of the LAD Department, the project was in response to the Animal Welfare Board of India’s letter to the department asking them to control the dog population. As a first step, they were asked to count the number of dogs in the Union Territory. The idea is to complete Animal Birth Control for 60 per cent of the population of dogs every six months. So far, the ABC programme is only carried out through the Society of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and is done in erratic manner. With the census of community dogs, the department would be able to plan their measures better, the official said.
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On Thursday, the results from the various municipalities and communes would be compiled and a complete figure would be obtained, he said. A total of 650 workers from the Pondicherry Municipality were used for the exercise, with the majority being the garbage collectors employed by the municipality. In the municipality area, there were over 5000 dogs found on Monday, the official said.