Bhubaneswar: The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) plans to restart its dog sterilization programme in the capital city. This decision comes after the Orissa High Court lifted its stay order on the sterilization exercise.
Bhubaneswar Mayor Sulochana Das reported that over the past one and a half months, 500 people have received anti-rabies vaccinations at BMC hospitals after being bitten by dogs. This highlights the alarming rise in dog bites in the city.
Due to the High Court’s stay order, dog sterilization was halted. However, the program will resume shortly. A modern kennel has been built in Mancheswar to facilitate the program.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Fisheries and Animal Resources Development presented data on dog bites in the Assembly. According to the data, 17 lakh stray dogs roam the state’s roads, and 4,600 dogs have been sterilized in eight urban areas. In the last two years, over 500,000 people have been bitten by dogs, with 243,565 cases reported in the past 10 months alone.
The Orissa High Court lifted its stay on stray dog sterilization in January after the state government formed the Animal Birth Control (ABC) Implementation and Monitoring Committee, as directed by the Supreme Court.
