Kochi Corporation mulls mobile ABC units to ensure balanced stray dog control

file image | Photo Credit: R K Nithin

The Kochi Corporation is exploring the possibility of deploying mobile Animal Birth Control (ABC) units, complete with veterinary surgeons and animal handlers (dog catchers), to ensure more effective management of the stray dog menace and balanced coverage across the city.

For long, councillors from West Kochi have complained of discrimination in the catching of stray dogs for sterilisation at the Corporation’s ABC Centre at Brahmapuram. This is despite the fact that the stray dog problem is perceived to be far more acute in many parts of West Kochi.

“That grievance is genuine. The dog catchers have been asked to maintain a balance between West Kochi and the rest of the city. As part of our efforts to increase the number of monthly surgeries at the ABC Centre from the current 100 to 150, they have been directed to maintain a ratio of 75:75 between West Kochi and the rest of the city. We are planning to place before the council a proposal for deploying mobile units as an expansion of ABC activities,” said Mayor V.K. Minimol.