The Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC) is building a hospital for the treatment of pets and animals.

The first of its kind in town, the hospital is likely to be functional from April.

Ranjan Sarkar, the deputy mayor of the SMC, said the civic body has been continuously receiving complaints about the menace of street dogs and the initiative to set up healthcare infrastructure was part of the plan to addressthe issue.

“This is for the first time the civic body is building an animal hospital that will be fully operational from April. The board is spending ₹1.25 crore for the infrastructure,” Sarkar said.

The hospital will be fully equipped to sterilisethe animals.

The animal health centre presently working out of a civic building in the dumping ground in Siliguri.

The health infrastructure is being built on a two-storey building that was constructed at the existing dumping ground area of the civic body at Ektiasal.

The first floor will have an OPD clinic, with seating arrangements for pet owners with their animals.

On the first floor, an operating theatre will be set up. The floor will be fully air-conditioned and canines will be monitored round the clock after sterilisation.

On Friday, 30 canines were sterilised with help from a vet from Kalimpong.

“Once the hospital starts functioning, such a programme will be conducted regularly. We are hopeful that such initiatives will not only reduce the canine population in the city, but also provide much relief to the residents here,” the deputy mayor said.

A source in the civicbody said the canine population across the SMC and adjacent areas is more than 30,000. Incidents of attack and dog bites have now become aregular menace.

The Siliguri administration has made it mandatory for pet owners to get vaccinated along with their pets. The district animal resource development department has also issued a slew of measures that included anti-rabies vaccination of pets, sterilisation of canines to control the birth rate and awareness drives about the mandatory pre-bite vaccination of pet owners.

People who feed stray dogs regularly have also been directed to take a pre-bite vaccination.