Chandigarh A Dog Pound with A Capacity of 310 Kennels to Be Operational by March Next Year

Chandigarh, November 28:

To control the street dog population in the city, a dog pound with a capacity of 310 kennels will be operational at Raipur Kalan by March next year.

The state-of-the-art pound will have a dog care unit to treat injured dogs. It will house a laboratory, a hospital, and an operation theatre. Along with sterilization, vaccination of wild dogs will also be carried out. In addition, the centre, spread over 2.50 acres, will have a facility to sterilize 1,000 stray dogs.

In Sector 38, The Municipal Corporation is already running an Animal Birth Control (ABC) Centre for sterilization, with a capacity of 110 kennels. With a new dog pound coming up, the capacity will rise to 420 kennels in the city.

In action taken report submitted recently — on issues mentioned in the minutes of the Administrator’s Advisory Council held on February 22 — the MC stated the work of ABC Centre was given to the Compassion for Animal Welfare Association (CAWA), an NGO, in July and 941 dogs had been sterilised so far. The report said that the dog pound at Raipur Kalan was under construction and would be functional by March 2023.

Further, 29 rabid and biting dogs had been lifted by the MC. They transferred to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) facility located in Sector 38, under the Deputy Commissioner’s ambit.

A census executed by the UT Animal Husbandry Department in 2018 pegged the number of stray dogs at 12,920. Around 25 to 30 dog-bite cases are reported daily from the city. As many as 28 dog-bite cases per day were reported in the city in 2020. According to the UT Health Department data, 10,558 persons were bitten by dogs in the city in 2020.

Unit to treat injured dogs

• It will house a lab, a hospital, and an operation theatre
• Besides sterilisation, vaccination will be carried out
• Spread over 2.5 acres, it can sterilize 1,000 stray dogs
• Will have 310 kennels, increase city’s capacity to 420

12,920 Stray dogs in the city (2018 census)

28 Dog-bite cases/day reported in 2020

10,558 Bitten in 2020