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No licence? You may lose your dog

BMC has asked citizens to get licences by March 31, will pay door-to-door visits to check violations and levy fines of Rs1,000 if found any.

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The next time you walk your dog down the Marine Drive promenade, make sure you have a licence from the civic health department. If you don’t, not only can civic health officials fine you Rs1,000 but they may also confiscate your pet dog.

If you thought you could keep your dogs at home, away from officials’ eyes, think again. The civic staff plans to go from door to door to ensure that all pet dogs are licensed.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) public health department has asked citizens to obtain licences by March 31, 2011, by paying Rs100. If you have a pet dog without a licence after that date, not only will you be liable for a fine of Rs1,000 but also penal action.

According to the department, it is taking such measures to ensure that citizens take good care of their pet dogs which are responsible for 20% of the 45,000 cases of rabies reported across the city each year.

“The BMC has decided to take strict measures to ensure the implementation of licences for pet dogs. The motive behind these measures is to check the cases of rabies in the city. When a dog owner approaches the BMC for a licence, we will also vaccinate the animal if it already has not been,” said Dr Gourish Ambe, executive health officer of the BMC.

“We will be able to bring the number down drastically if we manage to vaccinate all pet dogs,” he added.

Explaining how the department plans to go about the mammoth task of finding unlicensed dogs, Dr Ambe said: “We usually ask the watchmen of housing societies about people who own dogs in the respective buildings. We then approach the relevant people to know if they have a licence for their pet dog or not. We will intensify the drive in the coming months.”

He added that officials of the health department will also approach people walking dogs and ask for licences. If a dog owner does not have the licence on his person, officials will visit his or her residence to verify the permit.

“A dog census carried out jointly by the state animal husbandry department and the BMC has revealed that there are 26,900 pet dogs in the city, but only 6,000 to 8,000 are registered with the civic body,” Dr Ambe said.

The owners were expected to get their dogs vaccinated, but the fact that rabies cases have been on the rise in the city shows that compliance has been poor.

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