Sterilisation ineffective

There are about 3.4 lakh dogs in the city and just about 100-150 are getting sterilised per day. Dogs litter every six months and the number keeps multiplying. The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation’s chief veterinary officer Dr Venkateshwara Reddy said that the sterilisation programme is going on at brisk pace and the corporation attends immediately to complaints.

The number of sterilisations as compared to the number of new puppies born is too much. Raghavendra, a resident of Secunderabad Cantonment, said, “Till recently the Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB) did not have a dog squad and had to depend on GHMC to catch dogs.”

Dogs move in packs especially in Lothkunta area near the Railway tracks. Just last week three children playing near the tracks were attacked by the pack of dogs. In the last decade there is also a puppy boom and pet adoptions have gone up. Padmaja Bundla of Caring Hands for Animals (CHFA) says, “People like to have dogs and other animals as pets but many do not bother to get them vaccinated.

It can be very dangerous and lead to deaths. It is also important for people to make sure that their pets do not come in contact with street dogs.” It is surprising that people who domesticate dogs do not bother to get them vaccinated. “People believe that just by keeping the dogs indoors they would not contract rabies,” says Sunil, a dog breeder. Hardly two per cent of the dogs are vaccinated.