Rabid dog bite cases on the rise in Kozhikode

Civic body helpless in handling strays, says it will focus on ABC programme

Repeated cases of rabid dog bites have been reported from different parts of the city in recent months. While accusing fingers are raised against the Kozhikode Corporation, alleging inaction on the part of the civic body in handling stray dogs loitering on city roads, the Corporation has expressed helplessness in this regard.

“We cannot kill a dog. We can only isolate it even if certified by a veterinarian that it is a rabid dog. At present, we are doing the only thing we are capable of - carrying out animal birth control [ABC],” said S. Jayasree, health standing committee chairperson of the Corporation.

The Corporation had recently won praise from the State Human Rights Commission for carrying out the ABC programme on stray dogs effectively. The Commission had even asked the civic body to take up ABC activities in nearby panchayats too. Ms. Jaysree said the Corporation’s ABC Centre at Poolakkadavu was currently the only one of its kind in the State with facility to sterilise up to 12 dogs a day. However, the capacity of the centre is limited and cannot handle dogs from nearby panchayats, she added.

“We have plans to expand the centre, add more surgery tables, and even open a training centre at Poolakkadavu. But local residents who have been up in arms against the project right from the beginning are still at loggerheads with the Corporation,” Ms. Jayasree said.

The Corporation also plans to set up a dog shelter for strays but has not been able to identify a suitable space for it. “Some organisations had come forward to take up the responsibility of stray dogs and set up a shelter at Thamarassery. But with the Supreme Court order not to take dogs more than 6 km away from their territory, we had to decline their offers,” the chairperson added.