ABC centre at Thiruvallam reopens four years after being closed down

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: After a gap of nearly four years, the Animal Birth Control (ABC) centre at Vandithadam, Thiruvallam, has resumed operations. The facility, which was shut down in 2021 following High Court intervention over pollution concerns and alleged animal rights violations, has a capacity to sterilise more than 100 dogs per month. The High Court had sealed the facility following reports on death of stray dogs brought for sterilisation at the ABC centre. The corporation only had one operational ABC centre at Pettah, which has been struggling to handle the rising number of stray dog cases in the capital. As per official estimates, there are around 8,700 stray dogs in the corporation area. An official of the city corporation said that around 42 per cent of the dogs in the capital are sterilised. Since 2013, the civic body has sterilised around 13,000 stray dogs. Now we will be able to sterilise more than 200 stray dogs per month. The ABC programme will be effective only if we are able to sterilise around 500 dogs per month. Unfortunately we have very limited infrastructure, said the official. The ABC centre at Pettah can accommodate around 60 to 70 dogs. The official said that around 70 per cent of the stray dogs are vaccinated in the capital. However, the dearth of dog catchers is turning out to be a major challenge for the civic body. Since the reopening of the ABC centre at Vandithadam, the civic body has been trying to recruit more dog catchers for intensifying the ABC programme. The civic body has only six dog catchers, which is inadequate to cover the entire corporation area. The current wage for a dog catcher is fixed at `710. They are hesitant because of low wages and the risk factor involved. Many people who attended the interview were unhappy with wages and not ready for the job. They get better pay for other daily wage works, said the official. Since the reopening of the ABC centre, the civic body has sterilised around 45 dogs. We will be able to complete around 80 sterilisation surgeries this month. Next month we are targeting 100 surgeries per month, the official added. The civic bodys plan to set up a first-of-its-kind exclusive ABC centre cum multi-speciality veterinary hospital in the state capital continues to remain on paper. The project announced back in 2021 is yet to take off. There were some legal issues and now the case has been settled. We have earmarked funds for the project but its yet to take off. There is stiff local protest against the operations of the ABC centre at Vandithadam and the new project is also being planned there, the official added.