JOIN USBikers travelling around M N Krishna Rao Park in the night have been terrorised by Rani and her six pups, who stray around the area.
The female stray dog and her pups hold ‘sway’ over the area, which is barely three kilometres away from the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) head office where policies are formulated to contain the canine problem in the City.
Rani is a testimony to the Palike’s decade-long Animal Birth Control (ABC) programme on which at least Rs 20 crore has been spent so far. The maximum allocation of Rs six crore was made last year.
Under the existing laws, the Palike cannot cull the dogs but can neuter them. However, the canines swelled from three lakh to approximately 5.5 lakh in the last five years throwing a big challenge to the Palike’s programme, which is divided into 20 packages and is implemented by three NGOs.
Manohar H N from HMT Layout near Jalahalli, who returns home late in the night from his work, complained that stray dogs often chased him. “I encounter stray dogs at four to five places every day. Initially, I was very afraid but now I am used to it. The threat has not reduced, though,” he added.
On an average, at least one ‘self accident’ takes place in the City due to dogs, where bikers ram into something and are killed. Additional Commissioner of Police M A Saleem said the police never looked into the cause behind the “self accidents,” but he did not rule out the role of stray dogs behind them.
It seems the timing of catching the dogs under the programme is inappropriate. It is carried out only in the morning. Dogs go into hiding during the day time and appear ferocious in the night, just like Rani and her pups.