Their bark is as bad as their bite

Days after the Bombay High Court passed a decision on killing 8220;dogs creating a nuisance8221;, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC on Friday defined what exactly that expression means.

BMC defines which dogs can be killed

Days after the Bombay High Court passed a decision on killing 8220;dogs creating a nuisance8221;, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC on Friday defined what exactly that expression means. 8220;Nuisance dogs according to the High Court judgement are dogs chasing vehicles, rampantly biting people and barking incessantly for no reason,8221; said Additional Municipal Commissioner Kishore Gajbhiye.

The civic body also decided that they will put to sleep dogs belonging to three categories: critically ill, violent and fatally injured or rabid. Assuring dog-lovers that BMC does not intend to start large-scale culling of strays, civic officials stated that sterilisation will continue.

8220;We will not go for rampant killing but continue with the sterilisation process. Last year, of 70,000 stray dogs we sterilised around 30,000. Only for serious cases will we use the sodium pentothal injection,8221; said Executive Health Officer Dr Jairaj Thanekar.

The BMC has tied up with two more NGOs in Mulund to carry on the sterilisation process. 8220;We have some NGOs helping us out with sterilisation; now we have identified two more. The civic body will provide them the infrastructure,8221; said Thanekar.

The civic body will also form a committee comprising six veterinary doctors. The committee will look after the task of putting the strays to sleep.

According to the civic officials this will be the last resort. 8220;We will continue with the killing only in the most serious cases. The master plan is to continue with sterilisation and this will continue even if the Supreme Court upholds the High Court8217;s judgment,8221; said Thanekar.

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In 2008, under the Animal Birth Control ABC programme of stray dogs, the civic body received 4,789 complaints of stray menace and so far they have sterilized and vaccinated 28,768 dogs.

8220;The court order clearly states that barking dogs are not nuisance dogs. Dogs chasing vehicles cannot be termed as nuisance dogs either as they chase due to the noise from vehicles. Animal haters will only take advantage of this definition forgetting that many times a barking dog would have saved a crime by attracting public attention,8221; said president, In Defence of Animals, Fizzah Shah.

She applauded the BMC for continuing with sterilisation. 8220;It is good that the civic body will continue sterilisation, which is an effective way to deal with the stray dog menace as it has been scientifically approved by the World Health Organisation WHO. Last year, sterilisation brought the number of stray dogs from a lakh to about 5,000,8221; added Shah.