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Drive launched against stray dogs, 200 killed

Staff Correspondent

The drive launched on Friday aims to kill 1,000 stray dogs

TRAPPED: Stray dogs being caught as part of a culling operation in Chitradurga on Saturday.

Chitradurga: Following the directions of the district administration, the civic authorities started culling stray dogs in the city on Friday. Since then nearly 200 dogs have been killed.

The sources in the district administration said thought the operation is carried out every year, this year the issue had gained importance in view of instances in Bangalore where children were killed by a pack of dogs.

The civic authorities have hired four experts from Kerala to kill the dogs. An official said the experts inject the dogs with poison, which results in speedy death. It takes just 30 seconds to one minute for the dog to die. About a week ago, the public was informed about the culling operation.

Dog owners were asked to collect a special card from the municipal office to protect their dogs from being killed and were instructed to keep their dogs indoors during the culling operation.

The operation is being carried out in areas where there are a large number of mutton and chicken shop. The authorities are giving priority to areas from where complaints have been received about the dog menace. According to a rough estimate, the city has over 2,000 stray dogs and the administration has decided to cull at least 1,000 dogs in the next four days. Last year over 600 dogs were killed.

Mild resistance

The official said barring mild resistance from some people, most were in favour of the operation.

When asked why the authorities chose to kill the dogs rather than adopt the Animal Birth Control (ABC) programme, he said they had been ordered to kill ferocious dogs.

However, the ABC programme would be adopted in the coming days, as at present there were no experts to carry out the programme, he added.

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