Stray dogs own the streets of Tambaram; ABC proves ineffective

 Stray dogs in Tambaram Corporation are a growing public health menace. Almost every street has a pack of at least four strays, some with large litters, and the number of dog attacks and bites is increasing.

There is no official count in Tambaram, which is a quarter the size of Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC), but chief health officer Dr Arul Anand says the estimated stray dog population calculated based on ground surveys is one lakh, nearly the same as that in GCC.Experts say the civic body's inefficiency has ensured that scientific methods such as animal birth control don't offer a solution. First is the lack of veterinary surgeons; and, second, poorly maintained animal birth control centres.

The civic body says it's caught in a vicious cycle: it is not able to recruit surgeons without a functional centre, and the centres remain idle without surgeons.Of the centres that TOI visited at Gundumedu, Anakaputhur and Pammal, only the last named was functional. This too did not have a supervisor or a surgeon. ABC Rules 2023 make it mandatory for each centre to have at least one veterinarian who has conducted at least2,000 animal birth control surgeries.

"We haven't found experienced surgeons. We have sought help from the Animal Welfare Board," says Dr Arul Anand.Corporation commissioner R Alagumeena says the civic body hasasked the Board to put local bodies Luch as Tambaram corporation on priority, "If they send trained surgeons and doctors to local bodies, we will be able to conduct the ABC programme effectively," she said.