After a delay of a year, the BMC has finally started the survey of free-roaming (stray) and pet dogs from Tuesday. Accordingly, birth control programmes will be planned for the areas where the number of strays has increased compared to the last census.
The last survey conducted in 2014, recorded 95,172 stray dogs in the city. The civic officials believe the number has increased three times since then. To carry out a fresh survey, the BMC has appointed Humane Society International (HSI) to count the stray dogs and the Youth Organisation in Defence of Animals and Zimaxx Tech Solutions will carry out surveys of pet dogs.
“We have appointed an internationally certified firm. They use global positioning systems to count stray dogs and have internationally recognised formulas on how to derive data,” said a civic official.
Kalampasha Pathan, general manager of Deonar abattoir said, “The survey will give us the exact number of stray dogs in the city. These figures will be compared to the earlier census. Accordingly, birth control programs will be planned in such areas and implemented with the help of animal welfare organisations. The census will help us know the present conditions of stray dogs, so we can take measures to improve the current situation. Likewise, surveys of pet dogs will help us to know exactly what kind of pets people tend to keep, total number of registration and health conditions of pets.”
The census would include the age of stray dogs, sterilisation status and diseases. The civic body will use a GPS method to locate stray dogs in all 24 administrative wards in the city. The survey will last four months and cost Rs 12.67 lakh.
However, Sunish Subramanian, Secretary, Progressive Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) said, “The BMC should have appealed to animal lovers and also taken the citizens’ participation who would have willingly helped count stray dogs. We also want to know the procedure and method used for counting. To control the increasing stray population, the BMC should also set up sterilisation centres in each ward.”
