Bhubaneswar: The Smart City which has been relatively free from dog menace, thanks to the Animal Birth Control (ABC) unit, may soon find issues with increase in canine population on the streets with all the four specialised veterinary doctors of the unit having been transferred.
The ABC and Animal Helpline that has been running since 2008 has successfully sterilised over 19,000 dogs in the last 10 years. But with a population of 50,000 street dogs, there is much more work left to keep the city safe and free from accidents or incidents like the one reported in Puri earlier this year, wherein a four year old was mauled to death by a street dog.
However, the four senior doctors who were trained under a special programme for birth control operation of dogs have been already relieved from duty. Suddenly, the unit that has 70 dogs right now with 40 awaited to be operated for sterilisation, has become defunct. Also, Dr Rabi Patnaik, the Animal Helpline in-charge has been transferred bringing work to a standstill.
“The random transfers will affect the smooth functioning of the unit as the new staff are yet to join and will be untrained in the sterilisation operation. This may even result in discontinuation of the ABC programme,” said Sanjib Kumar Das, Member secretary, Concern For Ecology and Monitoring Committee, ABC.
ABC nodal officer and head of Veterinary Poly clinic Dr Bikash Das also said that even though the programme may continue to run, it may not be as efficient after trasnfer of all experienced doctors of the unit.