Structural lag, surging stray population choke Chennai's ABC centres
The GCC set an ambitious goal of 9,000 sterilisations a year for the 3 revamped ABC centres, yet the staff crunch allows for only 20-25 procedures at each centre, even on a peak day. While citizens are expecting a proactive move from the local body to cope with the growing stray dog population, the procedures are taken up on a complaint basis, dampening the movement
CHENNAI: Almost a year after the Greater Chennai Corporation upgraded its Animal Birth Control (ABC) centres at Lloyd’s Colony and Kannamapet under the Chennai Care for Animals Project (C-CAP), both facilities are processing significantly fewer sterilisation cases than intended. This shortfall comes as the city grapples with escalating stray dog numbers and increasing rabies-related health concerns.
As part of the Chennai Care for Animals Project, the city corporation revamped three ABC centres at Lloyd's Colony, Kannamapet and Pulianthope in 2024 with improved kennels, surgical facilities, and staff support, with each centre projected to perform up to 9,000 sterilisation surgeries annually. The citywide goal was to scale up to 50,000 surgeries per year.
However, ground visits to the Lloyd's Colony and Kannamapet centres reveal that daily operations fall below the target. Both centres averaged 20–30 surgeries a day and 15-20 a day, respectively, i.e, in their peak days. However, the infrastructure is built for more.
At Kannamapet, only one of the four surgical beds in the two operating theatres is in use. The centre covers four zones (Ambattur, Anna Nagar, Teynampet and Kodambakkam - zones 7, 8, 10, 11), runs with just one surgeon and two post-op staff, while Lloyd's (covering Tiruvottiyur, Royapuram and Teynampet - zones 1, 5 and 9) reports a similar structure.
ABC centres function on a complaint-based approach for sterilisation and not proactively. A doctor on site said that handling 15–20 daily complaints itself fills the day's work, and with just one surgeon, scaling up is logistically not viable. Overexertion also increases the risk of contamination, they added.
While each zone has five dog catchers, the city's overall capacity averages just about 75 sterilisations a day across five centres, according to a doctor in one of the centres. The aggregate could be less than half the benchmark needed to hit the 50,000 target. The National Urban Livelihoods Mission-recruited staff support the operations, but structural limitations remain.
The process per dog includes blood test, sterilisation, anti-rabies vaccination, a nine-in-one shot (to prevent diseases like parvo and leptospirosis), and post-op care.
Stray dog sightings remain frequent across Chennai, and sporadic reports of dog bites continue to raise concerns. While officials maintain that ABC centres will be gradually established in each zone, proactive dog-catching has been the need of the hour. And, it could only be possible if existing centres increase staffing. Without scaling up both manpower and preventive planning, the gap between policy and ground implementation may only widen.
