Dog bite complaints in Secunderabad fall to half compared to last year

Secunderabad: In a significant development, within two months of having formed a dog catching squad in Secunderabad Cantonment Board, the dog menace has been reduced to half the total number of cases per day that was registered in the year 2016-17, says Devender, superintendent, sanitation department. Meanwhile, the SCB is mulling to shift the Animal Birth Control centre (ABC) to the outskirts and are awaiting permission from the Local Military Authorities (LMA). 

He said that there was a time when the SCB received four complaints in a day but now we receive half of it that is around two in a day, on an average 60 complaints in a month. The complaints are attended according to the serial numbers. In a total of 400 colonies in SCB, the dog catching squad visits around two to three colonies in a day depending on the number of complaints received. There are two dog catching squad teams which deal with 10 to 12 dogs in a day. 

Having Animal Birth Control centre at trenching ground Bolarum, the centre comprises an operation room with two doctors and an assistant. Apart from that, there are around five to six people working on daily basis feeding the sterilized dogs for 23 days. “It is required to keep the dog in observation for 23 days and give them small meals and water, said Tripati , veterinary doctor working with ABC, Bolarum. The sterilized dogs were left at the exact spot from where they were picked up following the orders of the government said the Superintendent.

J Rama Krishna, vice president SCB, said, “There is a huge uproar from the residents staying near the ABCC because of the foul smell emanating all the time. There are instances when the centre was occasionally closed. With regards to the issue we are mulling to shift the centre to the outskirts to ensure that residents get huge relief from the stench, but we are yet to receive permission from LMA.” He further said that the present teams were enough to handle the dog menace, if in case there was a spurt in dog bite cases the centre ensures that more teams were deployed. 

BY Sushma Nagaraju