Kozhikode Corporation joins petition seeking to kill dangerous stray dogs

Despite its successful ABC programme, Corporation has been facing severe threat from canines over the past few months

The Kozhikode Corporation has joined the petition filed by the State government in the Supreme Court, seeking permission to kill dangerous stray dogs. The petition was filed by Corporation Secretary K.U. Bini with details of damage caused to public life by stray dogs.

The Panchayat Raj act and the Municipal Act had provisions to kill dangerous dogs and pigs. However, the Kerala High Court cancelled this provision when the Animal birth Control guidelines came into existence in 2001. The State government has questioned the High Court decision before the bench chaired by Sanjeev Khanna at the Supreme Court.

The Kozhikode Corporation has been facing severe threat from stray dogs over the last few months, despite its successful ABC programme. The Corporation has also started a vaccination drive for stray dogs in the city. However, the civic body has realised that the drive cannot cover all stray dogs in the city in one month. Moreover, the ABC assistants are facing difficulty in capturing the agile dogs.

A census held in 2016 had identified 15,000 stray dogs in the city, which the authorities expect to have crossed 30,000 at present.

The Mayor and the council had urged the public not to kill stray dogs and instead to stop feeding them or throwing away food to prevent their fast procreation.