MCK puts animal birth control program on hold

Complaint by animal lover and animal rights activist Maneka Gandhi, civic agency temporarily suspended

Karim Nagar: Stray dogs are becoming a major concern for the people of Karimnagar Township, where an animal birth control program initiated by the Karimnagar Municipal Corporation (MCK) has been put on hold due to outcry from animal lovers in the town.

People living in areas where neutering is done have raised objections following complaints from animal lovers and the shelving of the ABC plan, which animal rights activist Maneka Gandhi has brought to local police and companies. Many people complain of dogs howling all night in pain after surgery.

It was in 2020 that the municipal corporation tendered and handed over responsibility for neutering and vaccination to the Animal Welfare Society, which performed 2,013 operations. In July this year, the company called for tenders again.

Of the three companies, Animal Welfare Society again won the contract. However, the plan had to be shelved due to complaints as the society had only 186 of its 2,000 dogs it had targeted. Two dogs died from post-surgery health problems, MCK officials said. Some animal lovers took the matter to Maneka Gandhi, who spoke to local police officials, forcing the company to temporarily suspend operations.

Although officials are said to have approached other groups in Hyderabad to ensure the operation runs smoothly, no group has come forward to undertake the task in Karimnagar, the officials said.

The fee is Rs 1,650 per dog, of which Rs 1,450 is earmarked for surgery, medicines and food during the four-day rest period. The remaining 200 rupees are used to pick up the dogs and return them to the local area after surgery. These procedures were performed in the ABC room of the Mukarampura Veterinary Hospital.

However, despite taking painkillers following the surgery, the dog could not stand the pain and barked and howled at night, according to officials. Since the dogs were kept in the ABC room for three or four days after surgery, people around them began to object that they barked and howled non-stop at night and couldn’t sleep.

Now, company officials are considering spending Rs 2 crore to set up an animal care center with modern facilities. For this purpose, the district administration has allocated an acre of land near Bommakal on the outskirts of town.

According to MCK, there are about 4,000 stray dogs in the town. Mayor Y Sunil Rao said the project had to be shelved after objections from the local population as the operating theater and post-operative care center were located in residential areas. Once this is fixed, hopefully the program will resume.