Stray dog sterilisation drive launched in Bhubaneswar

The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) embarked on a programme to manage the city's burgeoning stray dog population, which now exceeds 70,000. The initiative was inaugurated on Friday by the civic body's Mayor Sulochana Das, who flagged off dog rescue vehicles at the BMC headquarters meant to sterilise stray dogs.

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2,000 stray dogs to be sterilised per month

In the first phase, two rescue vehicles have been allocated for the task of capturing and sterilising the dogs. This effort receives technical support from the Vets Society for Animal Welfare & Rural Development, based in Hyderabad. The civic body in Bhubaneswar aims to sterilise approximately 2,000 stray dogs each month, official sources said.

The sterilisation initiative is projected to persist over the next three years, with involvement from BMC’s sanitation teams (Swachh Saathi) and veterinary professionals responsible for the sterilisation procedures.

Mayor Das stated that the programme would be anchored by systematic dog population surveys across all 67 wards within the Capital City, ensuring the campaign's effectiveness and enabling targeted interventions.

"The long-awaited stray dog sterilisation programme was started by the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation from today. The task has been assigned for three years to the Vets Society for Animal Welfare & Rural Development, Hyderabad. We have targeted to sterilise around 2,000 stray dogs in a month,” the BMC Mayor said.

“As per the contract, they (the society) will capture the animals and sterilise them as well. Four veterinary doctors will carry out the task in a hospital in Mancheswar. We are receiving grievances regarding accidents due to a surge in the stray dog population. Local commuters are sustaining injuries after being chased by the animals and occasionally bitten by them. This has been a growing menace,” the BMC Mayor stated.

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“However, we cannot kill them; we can only control their population instead. Hence, BMC took up the task of Animal Birth Control (ABC) programme for the stray dogs to curb their population growth,” the BMC Mayor expressed.