Ranchi, Sept. 11: Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) has decided to take the help of the Chennai-based Blue Cross Society to catch street dogs.

The RMC is finalising a team that would travel to Chennai to train under experts of the Blue Cross Society. “We had a talk with their Chennai officials and they agreed to train our men for free,” said Ajaynath Shahdeo, the RMC deputy mayor.

For now, the RMC plans to send a team of 10 staff and they would be staying and training in Chennai for a week.

The Blue Cross Society is a private organisation that has branches in cities across India including Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Pune, Guwahati, Madhubani and Patna. The organisation that was set up by Captain Sunderam in 1959 employs expert veterinary doctors who volunteer as well as act as its trustees.

The experts there would be training the RMC staff regarding upkeep of animals, especially dogs and cats.

The Blue Cross Society also monitors the birth rate of animals and in some cities carries out free neutering procedures — and the RMC staff would be learning a bit about the neutering process, as well.

Though, the RMC is responsible for controlling the population of street dogs, it has assigned the duty to an NGO called Hope. The private body, so far, has failed to control the birth spurt.

Sadar hospital doctors are flooded every day with cases of dog bites and complaints of hospitals running out of anti-rabies vaccines and injections are not unusual.

The RMC also had imported four especially-made nets from Visakhapatanam two months ago to catch the dogs. Even the nets brought little result. The net plan has now been shelved. “September and October are breeding seasons for dogs,” said Shahdeo.

In the past year the Sadar hospital alone has treated as many as 5,269 cases of dog bite. Gita Kanth, a civil surgeon at the hospital, said she has given as many 14,346 rabies injections to victims.