Mumbai: Now, ward-level sterilisation plan to keep dog numbers down

Street dogs being fed in Sion. Pic/Pradeep Dhivar

In order to control conflicts between humans and street dogs, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to implement a plan at the local level. After the headcount of stray dogs, BMC will set up ward-level sterilisation programmes wherever the dog population is high. The city reported 3.52 lakh dog bite cases from 2018 to 2022.

"We are hoping to start the dog census in June. It will run for 2-3 months," said a BMC official. "We will gather data like the number of dogs in every ward along with gender, number of sterilised dogs and pregnant dogs," the official added. "The data will help us know where we need to strengthen the sterilisation programme. We have finalised the Humane Society International for the dog census," said Dr K L Pathan, head of BMC's Animal Husbandry Department.

BMC had planned to start the dog census in January 2023 but a technical error meant the proposal approval got delayed. The cost of the project is R12.67 lakh. The proposal was approved in March 2023," said sources.

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According to data, here were an average of 215 dog cases bite a day registered in the city last year. The city reported 78,756 cases in 2022, which is a significant increase after the pandemic.

The last street dog census was conducted in 2014, which showed that the city had 95,174 street dogs. There is no current information on number of street dogs.