The Supreme Court has directed that all the stray dogs of Delhi-NCR should be sent to the dog shelter within 8 weeks. In an important order, the country’s apex court directed the municipal bodies and other civic agencies to work with coordination among themselves to make enough dog shelters within the stipulated time and make sure that stray dogs are removed from the Public Place.
Meanwhile, Aaj Tak has investigated the dog shelters in Delhi, which revealed that there is not a single such place to keep stray dogs in the country’s capital. MCD sources said that at present there are 20 strayalization centers (sterilization centers) for sterilization of stray dogs in Delhi and there is no dog shelter. The existing sterealization centers have a capacity to sterilize 2,500 dogs.
About 6 lakh stray dogs in Delhi
MCD sources said that to control the population of stray dogs, at least 70 percent of their population will have to be sterilized, but due to lack of adequate sterilization centers for this, this target will not be met. At present, the number of stray dogs in Delhi is about 6 lakhs and to reduce this number, at least 4.5 lakh dogs will have to be sterilized every year.
Also read: Delhi-NCR stray dogs will be caught and put in shelter homes, strict order of Supreme Court
If the government and officials follow the court order with existing facilities, then only 1.25 lakh dogs will be sterilized every year. Dr. VK Singh, former director of the MCD veterinary department, said that due to the huge increase in the population of stray dogs, more shelter sites will have to be constructed and sterilization will take time. He further said that two types of shelter sites have to be built. One for the sterilized dogs and the other for dogs without sterilization.
Keep stray dogs in shelter: SC
The Supreme Court in its order said that after keeping any stray dog in a shelter, it should not be released back to the streets and directed that stray dogs should be kept in dog shelters and they should not be released in roads, colonies or public places. The apex court directed the Delhi government, MCD and NDMC to start lifting stray dogs from all areas. The court also warned that if an individual or institution hinders stray dogs, action will be taken against him.
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The Supreme Court said in a strict tone that we do not want to let infants and young children fall prey to stray dogs at any cost. During the hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had demanded to do something against the problem of stray dog bites. He said, ‘We cannot sacrifice our children only because some people consider themselves big animal lover.’ Last month, the Supreme Court took self -cognizance of the media reports about the incidents of rabies due to the bite of dogs, stating that hundreds of dog bites are coming out every day in the city and its outskirts, which is spreading rabies and eventually children and elderly are falling prey to this terrible disease.
Earlier this month, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) announced that it would modernize animal birth control centers to deal with the problem of stray dogs in the national capital and run anti-rabies awareness campaigns. The MCD said in a statement that its animal birth control centers running in partnership with many NGOs will soon start installing microchips in stray dogs to record sterilization status and other important details, which makes monitoring and tracking easier. Apart from sterilization, regular health checkups will also be done in these centers including blood checkups.
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