Ben Madilynn
According to Suralkar Vikas Kishore, Special Commissioner, Health and Welfare and Animal Husbandry department, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), “As per the 2023 survey, there were over 3.10 lakh stray dogs in Bengaluru city in 2019. Now, the number is reduced to 2.7 lakh because of BBMP implementing the Animal Birth Control (ABC) programme.”
With 18,822 cases of dog bites in Bengaluru in the past eight months (January to August), BBMP has launched a set of initiatives like the pilot project to insert grain-size microchips in stray dogs to track their territory, neutering, vaccinations and maintain surveillance on their health.
‘Feed them, calm them’
BBMP has undertaken ‘Coexisting Champion Initiative’ for responsible feeding of stray canines to reduce bites due to hunger-based aggression, and is about to launch an integrated vaccination programme as part of measures to reduce and prevent rabies infection.
The Palike also seems to be doing its bit to implement the National Action Plan for Dog Mediated Rabies Elimination (NAPRE) unveiled by the Union government in 2021 to make India a rabies-free nation by 2030. This year, the Palike has so far vaccinated 43,570 dogs with ‘Anti Rabies Vaccination’ and covered 16,914 stray dogs under its ABC programme, and neutered the animals.
According to Kishore, 30-40 daily cases of dog bite have been recorded since January, and compared to statistics from 2018, the numbers have drastically reduced. The corporation has managed to cover 72 per cent of stray dogs and operated in core areas of Bengaluru, and the majority of the stray dog population is in outskirts like Bommanahalli, RR Nagar and Mahadevapura zone.
