Bengaluru's stray dog numbers triple as GBA hunts for space to meet SC deadline

Bengaluru: Five corporations have been asked to find unused government properties that can be converted into temporary shelters for street dogs.

The Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) issued these instructions as it rushes to meet the Supreme Court mandate.

The GBA can shelter about 1,000 dogs, but its survey has found over 3,000 needing shelter as per the court’s directive.

Last month, the court directed all states to remove stray dogs from educational institutions, hospitals, sports complexes, bus stands and railway stations, and relocate them to shelters after sterilisation and vaccination.

The GBA has issued notices to 2,637 institutions to provide stray dog numbers and prevent animal entry. The number of strays identified has risen from 2,206 on December 3 to over 3,000.

At a meeting chaired by Tushar Giri Nath, Additional Chief Commissioner of the Urban Development Department (UDD), GBA officials said existing shelters can house 1,000 stray dogs. The plan is to use existing, temporary, and permanent shelters.

For temporary arrangements, all five corporations must find unused buildings or vacant land suitable for housing dogs. The UDD has directed them to use Karnataka Rural Infrastructure Development Ltd (KRIDL) to supply facilities under the 4(G) exemptions, despite KRIDL’s history of sub-standard services.

For permanent measures, the GBA has proposed new shelters at Ambedkar Nagar (Bengaluru North), S Bingipura (Bengaluru South), Animal Husbandry Department’s super-speciality hospital premises in Cantonment (Bengaluru Central), Kottigepalya (Bengaluru West), and Sadamangala and Varthur (Bengaluru East).

This is in addition to 554 kennels and 13 community kennels already accommodating about 1,000 dogs.

P Suneel Kumar, Commissioner of Bengaluru North Corporation, said there are two observation centres in Dasarahalli and Yelahanka to accommodate stray dogs. “I visited a government property in Mavallipura to create a temporary shelter with minimum facilities until permanent shelters are ready,” he said.

The GBA will submit an affidavit on its actions to the Supreme Court by December 20.

Samyukta Hornad, founder of Praana Animal Foundation, warned that rushing to shelter dogs may lead to cruelty and disease.

“Before sending the dogs to shelters, it is important to sterilise and vaccinate them. The shelters should also have basic infrastructure, including fencing and monitoring the health of the dogs, so they do not spread diseases," she said.

"Dogs are territorial in nature. By keeping them in a shelter, there is a fear that it will lead to their slow death as we are dependent on the very system that did not make animal birth control (ABC) programme a success.”