Corpn launches drive to immunise stray dogs

According to Chennai Corporation Commissioner G Prakash, the first phase of the mass immunisation drive has started in Madhavaram zone and the drive would continue in the zone for the next seven days. “After immunising stray dogs in Madhavaram, other 14 zones will be covered phase-by-phase,” he said.

The civic body has constituted seven teams, each headed by veterinary doctors. The plan is to immunise 1,050 stray dogs every day. As per a recent census conducted by the civic body, there are 6,450 stray dogs in the zone.

“As per dog census, we have identified more than 57,000 stray dogs in the city. All the dogs will be covered during the drive and the drive will be completed in 75 days. From here on, we will conduct immunisation drives once in every two years,” another official said.

Among the 15 zones in the Greater Chennai Corporation, Ambattur has more than 7,300 stray dogs, which is the highest number. Of the total strays, 13,837 dogs are sterilised female dogs, 19,861 are sterilised male dogs. There are 5,665 puppies in the city when the census was completed.

During the census conducted in 2014, there were 82,458 stray dogs in the city.

Explaining the reason for conducting such a massive drive, the official said that the move is aimed to bring down the number of rabies cases. To keep track of immunized dogs, the teams would spray vegetable dye on the dogs as an identification mark.

Earlier, the Corporation used to vaccinate the dogs against rabies when they were caught for sterilisation and only the non-sterilised dogs are prone to the disease that would spread to humans.