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Mira-Bhayandar: After extended delays, the agency hired by the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) has finally launched a dedicated sterilization and vaccination programme to address the rising population of stray cats within the limits of the twin-city.
Though it is a common practice to sterilize stray dogs in cities, the MBMC is amongst the few civic bodies in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) to launch this initiative of surgically sterilizing stray cats. In the first three days of the drive which commenced on Tuesday, a team of para-veterinary workers led by a qualified veterinary doctor attached to the agency successfully sterilized 19 stray cats at MBMC’s veterinary clinic located near the Swami Ayyappa Temple in the Poonam Sagar area of Mira Road.
The facility has been equipped with needed surgical/diagnostic equipment and an ambulance to rescue injured birds and get ailing or wounded animals from the streets to the veterinary clinic, where they could be treated. Apart from treating ailing animals, the clinic has also started facilitating sterilisation of stray cats under the ongoing Animal Birth Control (ABC) project on Tuesday.
A cat at the MBMC's vet clinic |
“The contract involves safely picking-up stray cats, ferrying them to the clinic in a basket, sterilizing them, administration of anti-rabies vaccination (ARV), post-operative care and releasing them back to their respective territories after the surgery wounds are completely healed.” said Dr. Vikram Niratle, who heads MBMC’s animal husbandry department.
The MBMC pays the agency Rs.600 per cat irrespective of gender for castration in the male (removal of the testes) and spaying the female (removal of the ovaries and uterus). Citizens /animal lovers can directly approach the clinic with cats for vaccinations and other treatment facilities. The clinic is under 24x7 closed circuit tele-vision (CCTV) camera surveillance.
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Total Cat Count Unknown!
Despite conducting a breed wise livestock census under the aegis of the Union Government's Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries (DAHDF) in 2018, the MBMC claims ignorance about the number of cats present in the twin-city.
