'Operation stray animals', MCC's drive in the making

Mysuru: The Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) is planning yet another drive against stray pigs and dogs. This time, the pigs caught will be shifted to a far away forest area, to ensure that they do not return to the city. The drive against dogs will be taken up simultaneously in three Assembly constituencies, with the council approval pending.

Veterinary Officer of MCC Dr Suresh, who tabled the proposal before the council, claimed that it is inevitable to shift pigs to forest areas. A letter in this regard has been sent to the Forest department, who for now, are apprehensive fearing that stray pigs may spread virus carrying infections affecting wild boars.

Suresh said, Mandya City Municipal Council has been auctioning pigs after catching them in a drive. The pigs are auctioned in the ratio of 75:25, where 75 per cent of the revenue goes to the catcher, while 25 per cent goes to the local body. In Davangere, tenders are
invited.

Following mixed reactions, Mayor R Lingappa ruled that tenders will be invited after making some changes as sought by the corporators.

Regarding stray dogs, the veterinary officer said, it has been decided to carry out animal
birth control (ABC) programme simultaneously in all three Assembly constituencies — Krishnaraja, Chamaraja and Narasimharaja. Till now, the civic body has spent Rs 1.40 crore on sterilisation of 27,213 dogs against 27,801 found during a survey conducted in 2011-12. The survey is conducted once in five years.

The veterinarian said, on an average, 15 dogs are sterilised per day at People for Animals (PFA) hospital near Bogadi, taking the total to 400 to 500 per month. An estimated Rs 515 is spent on each dogs for the purpose, against Rs 435 fixed earlier.

Debate

This led to a heated debate for sometime, as Corporator Ayub Khan took exception to revision of the amount, without bringing it to the notice of the council.

Though the veterinarian said, the amount was revised on the orders of previous Commissioner P G Ramesh, Khan was miffed at the unilateral decision of the previous commissioner.