BMC to gather data on stray dogs

Mumbai: In a first, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has asked city-based private hospitals, nursing homes and clinics to share with it data on administration of anti-rabies treatment to people bitten by stray dogs. The availability of such data would help civic officials deal better with stray dog bites, including giving the animals anti-rabies treatment and sterlising them.

According to civic officials and veterinarians, sterilisation reduces aggression in dogs and their inclination to bite human beings. Dr Mengez Gaikwad from the Bombay Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (BSPCA) told The Asian Age, “It has been seen, especially in female dogs, that when they are in heat, they bite more. This happens when they feel that human beings may harm them and prevent them from mating. After sterilisation, however, it has been seen that the urge to mate decreases considerably and that, in turn, reduces instances of dogs biting humans.”  

Dr Neelam Kadam, assistant health officer, BMC, said, “The civic body sterilises up to 290 stray dogs daily and seeks to know if it should sterilise more. We have access to data of state- and civic-run hospitals, but not private hospitals. Getting such data would help us detect cases of dog bites. Their population rises rapidly and we have only four NGOs working actively to catch, sterilise and immunise these dogs. The BMC does not have exact records of stray dogs and sterilisation is the only way to control the growth of the stray dog population.”

Asked how the problem of dog bites can be tackled, Dr Kadam said, “There are 101 centres for sterilisation of dogs. Every day, 275-290 dogs are sterilised. After treating and sterilising these dogs, we must leave them in the area where they belong.”

Biting into numbers:
Year    Dog bites    Total *
2012    82,274    2,75,530
2013    8,1716    2,75,590
2014    83,274    2,81,269
2015    80,934    2,62,398
2016    72,904    2,45,905
(Till Oct-16)