Members of the Mahila Vikas Samiti take stray dogs to sterilisation centre at Sartol . Pictures by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack, March 3: The Millennium City is facing a Catch-22 situation over controlling the rising stray canine population, as the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC)’s special dog sterilisation programme has managed to sterilise no more than ten stray dogs in a day.

Over the past eight years, slow progress of the sterilisation programme, poor planning and monitoring, along with low budget of the civic authority have resulted in increasing the stray dog population into virtually a no-win situation.

“There is no official count of the number of stray dogs in the city. But, their current number is reported to be over 40,000,” N.C. Raj, the city health officer told The Telegraph today.

Mahila Vikas Samiti (MVS), a local NGO, has been carrying out the programme to control stray dogs for the CMC since 2003. The programme has managed to cover around 1,770 dogs on an average every year.

“Presently, there are approximately 50,000 dogs in the CMC area. So far, only 14,000 stray dogs have been sterilised. We are lagging behind very badly in sterilising them as the gap between their population and the sterilisation rate continues to be very wide,” admits Udaynath Tripathy, coordinator of the MVS.

According to canine experts, the MVS coordinator said, if a bitch, her mate and her litter are not sterilised and are allowed to reproduce, it can lead to a population of 16 dogs in a year, 2,048 dogs in four years and 67,000 stray dogs in six.

“There is no survey in support of such count in the city but the apparent situation warrants neutering of 1,500 homeless dogs in a month to control the stray dog population within five years. But, we are managing to cover less than 250 in a month,” the samiti coordinator told The Telegraph today.

MVS, in collaboration with the CMC, runs a 10,000sqft facility, called the Dog Sterilization Centre, at Sartol in the eastern suburbs of the city. Under the programme, a stray dog has to be isolated for six days during which time he or she would be sterilised and immunised. For the entire process, the CMC pays the samiti Rs 445 per dog.

While CMC had sterilised 3,800 stray dogs at a cost of Rs 16 lakh in 2009-10, the programme by end of February had covered 3,400 and is likely to end up with another 200 by end of 2010-11.

“Progress in sterilising dogs has been slow owing to lack of infrastructure. A year ago, we had kennels that could accommodate 75 canines. But now we are left with dog sheds that can accommodate 60,” Tripathy said.

“Infrastructure is required for keeping at least 300 canines at one go to check the increasing stray dog population within the next five years,” he added.

The city health officer, however, said that the civic body is already considering the options of expanding the infrastructure by coming up with three to four more dog sheds in different places.

“We expect more funds from the National Animal Welfare Board (NAWB) for implementation of the stray dogs’ sterilisation programme in 2011-12,” he said. Last year, the NAWB had provided Rs 7 lakh for this purpose to the CMC.