VMC sparks off bitter debate

This, in fact, is the very reason why the VMC has not been able to poison strays in the past. But the increasing cases of dog bites nearly 3,000 a year and instances of pigs destroying crops and dirtying various localities have forced the VMC to hire professional killers.

According to official sources, on being caught, stray dogs and pigs would be administered poisonous injections, after which they would die within minutes. The same system was adopted in Surat also, sources said, adding that pressure from jivdaya organisations, however, did not allow too many strays to be killed in Ahmedabad.

A Thiruvananthapuram-based company was awarded a month-long contract on May 4; since then 237 pigs and about 10 dogs have been silenced. While the Corporation authorities claim there could be no alternative to killing these strays, animal welfare organisations object to the views.

According to Annapoorna Ravichander of the Vadodara Centre for Animal Rescue and Emergency VCARE, the population of stray animals could be effectively controlled by sterilising them. Snehal Bhatt of the Gujarat Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals GSPCA also advocated sterilisation, opining that by doing so even dog-bite cases would go down for it would check population of these animals.

Ravichander further stated that from 1991, the Vadodara Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals VSPCA had tied up with the VMC and sterilised more than 1,000 stray dogs and bitches, but the drive had been suspended in monsoon.

Bhatt claimed that the VMC had turned down the GSPCA8217;s offer to catch dogs for sterilisation. Ravichander is for humane killing of the dogs, but Bhatt said that if sterilisation took place, the dogs and bitches would not get the impulse to bite humans if disturbed in or before the mating season.

Meena Amin of Pashu Seva Kendra, too, is out and out against the killing the dogs, suggesting that the animals be driven out of the city instead.

When contacted, Additional Municipal Commissioner General I B Peerzada said sterilisation could not be the alternative as the dogs and pigs had grown in alarming numbers. Though there was no detailed survey of the number of stray dogs, official sources said the pigs had outnumbered the dogs.

Sources said the pigs were being targeted first for there were more cases of pig bites. This would be followed by the killing of dogs.

The VMC is expected to extend the contract of the Thiruvananthapuram company after studying its strike rate.