Shocking news from Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagar Palike (BBMP) to dog owners. Come April, those who yearn to own pet dogs, will have to obtain domestic dog licence compulsorily.
Ye s, BBMP has conceived this unique idea of giving the licence in order to end stray dog menace in Bangalore City.
BBMP commissioner Dr S Subrahmanya disclosed this on Friday at a function held to include 10 vehicles purchased under stray dog birth control progra mme. In the June-July census of dogs it was found that the stray dog population in the city is 1,83,758 and pet dog population is 1,43,522.
The BBMP had evolved the concept of issuing domestic dog licences to dog owners. The licences were being distributed to those who had already owned pet dogs. Each licence would cost Rs 200 and the licence would be valid for one year. The dog owners would have to renew the licence every year, he added.
To end the stray dog menace, the Palike had conceived another plan where citizens would be encouraged to adopt stray dogs. The Palike would give belts free of cost to such citizens. The Palike would fix certain responsibilities regarding vaccinating the dogs and how to bring them up. A sum of Rs 25 would be charged to issue licences to such citizens, he revealed.
Animal Birth Control (ABC) programme is a continuous process aimed to reduce the number of stray dogs. Under ABC programme, 100 wards are divided into 10 packages, and new zones would be included in five separate packages for ABC and allotted NGOs for carrying out ABC related activities. The ABC programme was making use of modern technology such as inclusion of butterfly nets in the vehicles to catch the stray dogs, he added.
Why is this "shocking news"??Is it shocking that BMP is actually trying to enforce rules that have existed for years or shocking because you did not expect BMP to ever take action?
The idea of encouraging people to adopt stray dogs is excellent!
However, care needs to be taken that such dogs are easily identifiable once they have been registered with dog tags clearly stating the area it is from and the owner to avoid adopted dogs getting picked up by dog catching vans.
