http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110208/jsp/northeast/story_13551448.jsp
Issue Date: Tuesday , February 8 , 2011
Aid sought to curb stray dog menace
A STAFF REPORTER
Feb. 7: Just Be Friendly (JBF), an organisation which has been sterilising and
treating stray animals in the city, has sought aid from the Animal Welfare
Board of India (AWBI) to set up a full-fledged centre to remove the menace of
stray animals.
The organisation has submitted a detailed project to the AWBI recently to set
up their permanent centre at Sonapur. The centre will take up varied activities
right from sterilising stray dogs to creating awareness among the people about
them.
“The centre will be located on a plot covering seven bighas. Once AWBI approves
our project, they will come forward with the necessary infrastructure to let us
work smoothly,” said Kongkon Baruah, administrator-cum veterinary officer of
the JBF.
Baruah said besides a full fledged veterinary hospital, it will have rescue
centres for stray dogs and cattle. “JBF also has a plan of creating awareness
among the residents of the nearby areas on the nature and treatment of stray
animals,” Baruah said.
The city has over 40,000 stray dogs. They are present in every locality. One of
them even entered the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium during the India-New Zealand ODI
last year.
“In 2007 when we conducted a survey in the city, the number of stray dogs was a
little over 30,000. By now, the number has crossed 40,000,” Baruah said.
The JBF has been sterilising stray dogs in the city since 2008 with the help of
a team of experts. They also treat injured dogs with the help of their mobile
animal clinic. The JBF is now being run from a rented room. But carrying on
such a huge task is not possible from a rented room, Baruah said.
The JBF and People for Animal are the only two organisations in the city which
have been working to check their population through sterilisation. But their
staff is much less than required.
“In one month, we concentrate in one particular area. The strength of our staff
is not enough to cover a large area,” said Baruah. “Since 2008, we have
sterilised around 1,200 dogs. After sterilising we also inject anti-rabies
vaccine to each of them,” he added.
Shashanka Shekhar Dutta, the JBF’s chief functionary, said the awareness drive
was essential to remove the misconceptions about animal activists. This lack of
awareness put animal activists in immense trouble when they go to do their
work.
“People suspect that they eat the dogs. So they try to stop us while we go to
sterilise the dogs,” he added.
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