Team Herald
MARGAO: The Shadow Council for Margao (SCM) on Monday sought Margao Municipal Council’s (MMC) urgent attention to tackle the stray dog menace in the town.
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In a memorandum submitted to the MMC Chairperson Pooja Naik, the SCM stated that due to the rise in the stray dog population, citizens have to fearfully traverse in the town as there are possibilities of attacks by pack of stray dogs.
Attaching Herald reports, the SCM highlighted a recent incident wherein a three-year-old child along with other family members was attacked by a pack of dogs in Aquem. “The manner in which the little child was bitten sends shivers down the spine”, SCM convener Savio Coutinho stated and urged the council to attend to this problem on a serious note to avoid similar situations in future.
The SCM stressed the urgent need for an intensive sterilization programme so that the ABC (Animal Birth Control) programme becomes effective.
Coutinho said, “Several puppies are born in a given period of time, in comparison to the number of sterilisations taking place. And to add to the problem, new born puppies also are brought from neighbouring villages and left in the town.”
The SCM further sought to impress upon the council for formulating certain laws with respect to keeping pets.
He stated that he has personally experienced that very often people do not allow certain dogs, fed by them to be sterilised, however when pups are born they are left on the streets, thus adequate laws are the need of the hour.
Coutinho recalled that in coordination with the Mission Rabies team, an intensive sterilisation programme was conducted in 2014, as over 7000 dogs from Margao alone were sterilised within six months. The effect of the intensive sterilisation programme was seen during the following few years with the reduction in the birth rate.
