The fresh order from Supreme Court on stray dogs has put the city authorities in a tight spot as carrying out euthanasia would need a formal set-up in place. For the cash strapped Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC), it is going to be a challenging task, as court said the dogs not fit to live would need certification from veterinarian, the stray movement and history of assault would need to be recorded which in itself is a Herculean logistic exercise. Already, ongoing animal birth control (ABC) drive of NMC itself is plagued with difficulties, due to paucity of funds. Due to this, majority of dogs on the city streets still continue to pose threats to citizens. At the same time, the population of street dogs shows no downward trend, leaving the citizens to fend for themselves. Recently, few cases of injuries to citizens were reported as they fell down on road while being chased by dogs.

 

These cases, though occurring outside the city limits, show that the canines continue to show dangerous behaviour. The apex court has firmly ruled that rabid and dangerous dogs pose danger to humans and authorities should pursue option of euthanasia to put down such threats. To prevent mass killing in name of danger, the Court did lay down stringent directives, one is sticking to rules of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, and second Animal Birth Control Rules 2003. With complaints about aggressive dogs mounting, the NMC would need to augment ABC capacity. A dedicated team would need to be set up to identify dogs that are afflicted with rabies or showing violent behaviour. The dog catching unit of civic body works in quite an abrasive way.

 

Usually, untrained workers are hired to round up strays on the street. At times on seeing the approaching van, the dogs are fast to escape. The task is further compounded by dog-lovers who love to feed these strays on the streets. So many of the dogs move around residential localities and on main road in packs and chase after two-wheelers leaving the riders exposed to multiple risk. Though NMC has taken up capacity augmentation for sterilisation, the process needs to be sped-up. A new and modern ABC centre is under development at Bhandewadi Yard and another one at Gorewada is planned to be increased. The third one at Maharajbagh is being modernised. Still, NMC needs to increase the allocation of budget for sterilisation programme of stray dogs who population has increased manifold in last decade or so. Attempts to get NMC’s version on future planning against the backdrop of new directives from SC could not succeed as usual, the Chief Sanitation Officer Dr Gajendra Mahalle chose to ignore multiple calls.