CHENNAI: After two stray dogs bit people in Maduravoyal and Tondiarpet, Greater Chennai Corporation is planning to resume its street dog census, which is long overdue, in June. It was started in the Royapuram zone in Nov last year but did not take off.
The local body is mulling joining hands with NGOs in the field of animal welfare for the exercise. The last stray dog census was held in 2018, recording 1.1 lakh dogs on the streets, while the actual estimate is considered more than twice the count.
In Nov 2023, after stray dog bite cases in Royapuram, GCC began a census, vaccination, and sterilisation drive of dogs in the zone. “We recorded 3,901 stray animals in the zone last year, and we are considering teaming up with NGOs. By June, we will resume the census,” said city veterinary officer Dr Kamal Hussain.
GCC has missed multiple deadlines to complete the census, which must be done every four years, as per Union govt guidelines. The census should have been done in 2022, as per the rule. However, it began in Nov 2023 with a goal to complete it in April 2024. “The Dec northeast monsoon and rains delayed the exercise,” said a GCC official.
“We are in talks with World Veterinary Services (WVS) to team up with GCC to take up the census. Initially, it will be for Perungudi and Madhavaram zones, and it will then be expanded to other parts of the city. WVS has participated in the census in Coimbatore and Erode in the state and in Goa,” said Shruti Vinod Raja, a member of the Tamil Nadu Animal Welfare Board. “The census will be done using a mobile application linked to GPS.”
In Coimbatore, volunteers went around on two-wheelers and geo-tagged dogs, noting gender and medical issues, including whether the animals were neutered.
In Goa, stray dogs are being microchipped along with the census to follow up on the yearly anti-rabies vaccination and to find out whether they have been returned to their original location post-sterilisation and vaccination.
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