Bovikanam: A steep rise in dog bite cases in Kasaragod district in recent times has triggered the re-opening of the animal birth control centre at Bovikanam. The centre remained closed for two years for various reasons. Minister for Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development, J Chinchu Rani inaugurated the new ABC at Bovikanam recently. Speaking on the occasion the minister said that centres like this will plug the rampant rise in the number of stray dogs and that the state will be rendered free of stray dogs in the next five years.

Monitoring panels
Monitoring committees will be constituted at the panchayat-level to decide the locations from stray dogs have to be captured for sterilization. The panels, headed by the panchayat president, will also include panchayat members, veterinary doctors of the respective areas and farmers’ representatives.

After the list of hotspots is prepared, workers arranged by agencies will capture the dogs. After sterilization, the dogs will be released at the same locations from where they were captured.

ABC after a two-year gap
The ABC centre opened at Bovikanam has all modern facilities. In fact, the ABC programme is being resumed in Kasaragod district after two years. The programme was initially launched in the district in 2016 and was based in an old building of the veterinary hospital near the Kasaragod railway station. Later, another centre was opened at Thrikkaripur.

However, both centres ceased functioning in 2023 due to various reasons, leading to an increase in the menace of stray dogs in the district. Currently, over a thousand people suffer the bite of stray dogs in Kasaragod every year.

Authorities said that the new centre at Bovikanam will become operational this week itself. It has been built with funds from the three-tier panchayat and the Animal Husbandry Department at Ettaam Mile, near the Veterinary Hospital. The construction was conducted by Steel Industries Kerala at a cost of Rs 1.40 crore. An additional Rs 10 lakh was spent for equipment.

Rs 1,925 per dog for sterilization
There are facilities at the centre to sterilize 20 dogs daily. Dogs captured and brought for sterilization will spend five days here before they are released. Cages for one hundred dogs have also been arranged at the centre for their stay. An agency named Nain Foundation based in Haryana has been given the task of carrying out the activities under the centre. The agency will charge Rs 1,925 to capture, sterilize and release each stray dog.