The program spearheaded by Animal Nepal, an animal rights NGO, has launched a two-year Kathmandu Rescue Program (KRP), which will reach out to over 2,000 stray dogs, especially females who will be sprayed for birth control. [break]
On Tuesday Animal Nepal team spayed ´Putali´, a lovely black dog from Taudaha, thereby announcing the end of the Animal Breed Control and Anti-Rabies (ABC/AR) pilot project and beginning of the KRP.
KPR will have three vets, two educational officers and some shelter managers in its team.
"The KRP will be a continuation of our pilot project. We are looking at Lalitpur this time around," Pramoda Shah, coordinator of Animal Nepal, said.
Shah said that their team, which comprises vets, volunteers, conservationists and animals-lovers, will go to communities where there are maximum number of street dogs and operate on them.
"Flank spaying or operating on female dogs between the ribs and the legs will directly help control the population of street dogs," Shah added.
Animal welfare workers have long argued that spraying and vaccinating are viable options to killing by poisoning the dogs as adopted by the municipalities in the Valley.
"We have urged Lalitpur Sub-Metropolis to adopt this program as a means to population control rather than poisoning the innocent dogs," Manoj Gautam of Roots and Shoots Nepal said.
Gautam argued, "We cannot eradicate the problems emanating from stray dogs, but killing is neither the right thing to do."
The municipalities drastically reduced cases of poisoning the dogs to death after stiff resistance from NGOs last year and also when people from the Newar community objected to such killings as religiously dog is considered to be Lord Bhairav´s mount.
According to one survey carried out by Kathmandu Animal Center, there are over 35,000 street dogs in the Valley at present. But this data is only urban-based. Kathmandu Municipality has said it could be anywhere between 50,000 to 60,000.
The vets, on the other hand, have urged the government to introduce Anti-Rabies program at the earliest.
"Municipalities conduct cats and dogs rabies vaccination program only once a year under Japanese assistance. There are no other programs run by the municipalities besides this," Dr Balaram Thapa, a vet and former director general of Livestock Department, told myrepublica.com.
Thapa informed that the municipalities are seriously considering enforcing license system for pet owners to bring about effective regulation.
Thapa argued, "Pets are people´s property and thus the responsibility for them lies with their owners, but the state must regulate it."
"If license system is introduced, it will help the municipalities earn revenue as well, which can be used for other educational purpose," Lucia de Vries of Animal Network said.
She informed that NGOs have urged municipalities to adopt dog management activities concentrated around spaying and running anti-rabies camps.
"Dogs are useful to our community. The effort must be to raise awareness and take the campaign to the grassroots level," she added.
akanshya@myrepublica.com
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