Animal Welfare Board of India and civic body bosses sign MoU for project to control dog population.
A decision jointly taken by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) and Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) regarding canine sterilisation comes as good news for Amdavadis, and especially for animal lovers.
Citizens can cheer from the fact that the two bodies are finally going ahead with the Animal Birth Control (ABC) programme to control the increasing dog population in the city. And animal lovers can rejoice that these new methods adopted to be adopted by the civic body, will be scientific and humane.
AWBI and AMC bosses signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for commencing the project, on Saturday. Chairman of AWBI, major general (Retd) Dr RM Kharb, who was in the city to discuss details of the MoU with municipal commissioner IP Gautam, said that will conduct the ABC programme using very
humane and scientific methods.
"The target for the ABC programme is to survey the dog population in the city. Of the total population, 70% of dogs should be sterilised within two years of time, in keeping with the guidelines of the World Health Organisation (WHO)," said Dr Kharb.
Speaking on the animal birth control programme, Dr Kharb said that it is important for civic amenities to implement the programme. "All civic bodies in Tamil Nadu have been directed to take up the ABC programme. In Indian cities, Jaipur and Chennai have also successfully taken up the programme and are yielding good results," said Dr Kharb.
He said that there was no uniformity in the ABC programme, and the AWBI guidelines brought clarity into it. "We have also requested the (state) animal husbandry departments to chip in for the programme, as they have good infrastructure.”
When asked about the AMC's use of iron tongs to catch dogs in
the city he said, "The use of iron tongs is history. The best way to catch dogs is with butterfly nets."
One of the important moves from the AWBI would be to convince citizens of the importance of the dog sterilisation programme.
"Before commencing the programme in any colony, we will spread awareness about it and convince the citizens about the importance of the project for animals and humans alike," he said.
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