Speed up animal birth control, Silk City residents urge Berhampur Municipal Corporation

BERHAMPUR: The animal birth control programme here has been stopped for the last several years, though the dog menace in the city has reportedly increased. The residents have urged the Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC) for urgent need of animal birth control following the recent killing of a four-year-old child by street dogs in Hyderabad.
The birth control programme was included to catch, sterilise, vaccinate and release the animal to control their population, sources said.The BeMC has built 18 kennel houses on the premises of veterinary office here to sterilise and vaccinate the dogs for the last several years. The programme was stopped in the city though on an average 20 to 30 fresh cases of animal bites are reported daily to MKCG Medical College and Hospital, sources said. “Of these, maximum cases are of dog bites,” said a doctor in the community medicine department.
In the past, the BeMC had floated tenders inviting agencies to take up the animal birth control programme. But no one came forward to take up the task, sources said. “We also wanted to engage a veterinary surgeon on a contractual basis, but no surgeon is available,” said BeMC commissioner J Sonal.