Corporations may move SC on putting down ‘sick’ canines

As cases of dog bites continue to rise in the national Capital, civic bodies <g data-gr-id="43">mull</g> to approach the Supreme Court on allowing killing of dogs under certain conditions.

The North MCD on Wednesday announced that it will make an appeal to the Apex Court claiming that killing of dogs suffering from serious diseases is necessary as they pose serious threats to the citizens. 

“We are using all methods like sterilisation, vaccination and providing treatment to dog-bite victims but we need permission to kill dogs that become highly aggressive and infected with rabies. It is well known that sick/injured dogs often bite human beings moving around them,” said MP Bhardwaj, Chairman of Standing Committee of North MCD.

In a report filed before the Delhi high court earlier in January, disturbing findings indicated that stray dog menace is steadily getting worse in the city. 

Amicus curiae painted a grim picture and tagged civic agencies as, “dog lovers with misplaced sympathies” and slammed NGOs for allowing the number of stray dogs to increase.

Studying the problem of stray dogs in Delhi, the report found that there was no programme in place to identify and treat the sick and infected canines, posing a direct risk to humans.

In April, the Delhi high court had issued <g data-gr-id="35">notice</g> to the civic agencies on a PIL seeking implementation of the Animal Birth Control (Dogs) Rules, to control stray dog population in the city. 

The court had sought status reports from the government and civic agencies on work being done to control stray dog population, as well as the implementation of the rules. Observing that reports had indicated that there are nearly five lakh stray dogs in the city, the PIL had claimed that even though civic agencies carry out sterilisation and vaccination of dogs regularly, “the number of dogs is so large that vaccination cannot cope up with the strength”.

Notably, the Corporations do not have permanent dog sterilisation centres under their jurisdictions. The veterinary department <g data-gr-id="32">sterlises</g> nearly 6,000 dogs every year using mobile centres while the count of dogs <g data-gr-id="31">increase</g> by 60,000 in a year. 

“For <g data-gr-id="34">sterlisation</g> and vaccination, the Corporations fully depend on mobile centres and <g data-gr-id="39">majority</g> of them are in a state of breakdown. The Corporations, in order to protect people, must set up their own centres,” said Mukesh Goel, Leader of Opposition (North Corporation).