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Stray dogs numbers go up; activists pick holes in birth control scheme, JMC denies allegations

Ayushi Malik. Dated: 12/11/2017 3:54:51 PM

JAMMU, December 10: Increase in cases of dog bites in Jammu is directly proportional to the increase in the number of stray dogs, revealing the lack of initiative in controlling the stray canine population.
No latest authentic census figures are available. The last ever census of stray dogs conducted by Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) in 2014 showed there were around 42,000 dogs roaming in the city.
The only available figures are those provided by the survey done by Nanded Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in February 2017 which shows that stray canine population has crossed 51,000. Nanded Society is an NGO which bagged the JMC contract for carrying out sterilisation programmes for keeping the stray canine population in check under the Animal Birth Control and Anti Rabies Vaccinations (ABC/ARV) programme supported by Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) through Government of India, Stray Dog Control Rules 2001.
Interestingly, the survey was done before the NGO bagged the JMC contract.
Keeping in mind the alarming rate of increase in dog bites and with an aim to control the stray dog population, ABC/ARV programme for stray dogs at Municipal Animal Centre was inaugurated in Jammu in March 2017 by the then Commissioner JMC, Dr. Manmohan Singh.
It is being executed by the Nasik (Maharashtra) based NGO, Nanded Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to carry out the ABC/ARV programme for stray dogs in all the 71 wards of JMC for a period of two years which includes sterilisation and immunization of stray dogs according to the Standard Operative Procedure guidelines laid out by AWBI.
According to the data collected from JMC, a total of 6687 stray dogs have been sterilized and immunized till September 2017 and the programme is taking place with additional infrastructure and staff.
“The program has now gathered steam with more than thousand surgeries per month being performed since July, though the programme itself started in March 2017.” says Dr. Jaswant Singh, Medical Veterinary Officer, JMC.
JMC signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Nasik based NGO, Nanded Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to carry out the ABC/ARV programme for stray dogs in all the 71 wards of JMC for a period of two years in March 2017.
However, there have been number of complaints from some local NGOs, animal lovers and animal rights activists, who picked holes in the manner in which the ABC/ ARV programme was being executed.
While speaking to KTNS, some animal rights activists pointed out that JMC is not adhering to SC guidelines for success of ABC programme.
“The biggest problem’ being faced by the people is dislocation, as there have been a number of complaints regarding dislocation of dogs which results in added violent behaviour of dogs towards residents which is serious issue as far as dog bites is concerned,” they alleged and added, “Dislocation or mixing of dogs collected from various wards is also against Supreme Court guidelines,” they maintained.
Rumpy Madaan, who heads an NGO Animal Welfare Organisation alleges, “There have been number of cases of dislocation of dogs after the operation. Dogs are lifted from various wards at once and are mixed with no record of which dogs belong to which ward resulting in increasing dog biting cases which adds to more fuel in already existing animal- man feud.”
She is also concerned about the survival rate of the strays after the surgery “There is no one to check whether the mortality rate of dogs after surgery is between 0.2% -0.5%, no one available to cross check that how many dogs have survived operation. There are also many cases of ill treatment of animals by the staff of JMC,” she adds.
“The ABC/ARV monitoring committee should keep a keen observation on effective implementation of programme and speed up the process of sterilization and immunization, making sure all the SOP guidelines laid out by AWBI and SC rules are being followed, so that better results are yielded,” she suggested.
Arti Dhar, resident of Roop Nagar, Sector 2, complains, “There were 7 or 8 dogs she used to feed daily. One day JMC lifted those dogs and mixed them with the dogs lifted from Canal Road.” She also has same complaints regarding dislocation and mixing of dogs from various wards. She added,” There is no proper medical team to treat the dogs as stitches get loose just days after the surgeries done by JMC under ABC program.”
Isha Rajput resident of Shubash Nagar told,” About month ago, JMC lifted some dogs from our area and those dogs are not to been seen anywhere since then. Also there is no proper treatment towards animal from the staff.”
When contacted JMC Municipal Veterinary Officer (MVO), Dr. Jaswant Singh denied the allegations levelled by the NGOs and said, “Entire allegations levelled by the NGOs are totally baseless and groundless. We are following all the rules and guidelines laid down by SC and AWBI. Dogs are being lifted ward wise and there is no such problem of dislocation being reached out to us by residents. All dogs after surgery are being released in the same area from where they were lifted.” says, MVO, JMC.
“Dogs are kept at the Animal Care Centre in Roop Nagar for 3-4 days after the operation and are properly taken care of. On the fifth day, they are released back to the same ward from where they were lifted. We also check that the mortality rate should be between 0.2%-0.5%,” he adds.
On being asked about the present population of the stray dogs, he verbally says, “At present, the population is found to be 52,000 excluding the cantonment areas in Jammu city.”