Palakkad may become 1st canine-friendly district

Palakkad: The district panchayat president K Santhakumari said that minister for forest P Raju will launch a programme to make Palakkad the first 'canine friendly district' in the state here on Friday.
Santhakumari said here on Wednesday that an amount of Rs 2.6 crore was already been allotted for the first phase of the mission to be taken up in all the municipalities and panchayats in the district.
She said that an Animal Birth Control (ABC) programme to tackle the stray dog menace will be launched in five centres in the district on Friday and a 50-member team of veterinary doctors, dog catchers, attendants etc., have been appointed for the scheme.
The dogs will be sterilized and given care in these five centres and will be released in the same place from where it was caught. "The dogs are also part of our life cycle and should not be killed. It has a major role in our waste management system. So our mission is to protect the dogs while ensuring the safety of the public," added the district panchayat president. Licence and vaccination will be made mandatory for domestic dogs.
The district animal husbandry officer Dr S Venugopalan Nair said that training and other preparations were completed and the ABC programme has been started on an experimental basis.
."As many as 10 veterinary doctors, 20 dog catchers and five attended were recruited specially for the ABC programme. The training is given as per the training programme stipulated by the Animal Welfare Board of India," said Nair.