Chennai corporation to open trauma care centre for pets, shelters for stray dogs

The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) has announced that it is setting up a trauma care centre for pets at a cost of ₹25 lakh at the animal centre in Kannammapet.

This centre will provide emergency treatment to animals injured in accidents. A pet crematorium is also slated to come up in north Chennai. These announcements were made by Chennai Mayor R Priya.

Currently, the GCC operates six veterinary hospitals to treat pets across the city, but will add 10 more veterinary hospitals in zones including Tiruvottiyur, Madhavaram, Royapuram, Tondiarpet, Manali, Ambattur, Valasaravakkam, Anna Nagar, Adyar and Perungudi. These hospitals will be set up at a cost of ₹15 lakh.

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The civic body also provides free rabies shots for pet dogs. There are around 1.8 lakh strays in Chennai and the city plans to vaccinate them all and give them deworming treatments as well. This is all set to cost the corporation ₹3 crore.

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Local stray dog shelters

Apart from medical care, the civic body aims to open localised shelters to house stray, injured and abandoned dogs, under the Vallalar Biodiverse Shelters initiative launched by CM M K Stalin.

These shelters will be funded by the corporation and it will also provide medicines. However, it will be run by NGOs who will identify the dogs and sterilise and vaccinate them.

The GCC will hold meetings with NGOs to help manage the upkeep of these shelters for stray dogs.

The Vallalar initiative was initially announced in the state budget of 2022-23 to mark the 200th birth anniversary of Vallalar, who was a saint known for his kindness to all living beings. The government has set aside ₹20 crore for the initiative.

Under this scheme, a rabies vaccination drive will be initiated, medical emergency services and ambulances will be offered through a non-profit NGO, the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA).

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Stray dog menace

Earlier, Congress MP from Sivaganga, Karti Chidambaram, had flagged the issue of stray dog menace in Chennai and the surge in dog bites.

Demanding a white paper from the city mayor on the fund allocation of ₹20 crore for controlling stray dog population, Chidambaram said that only 27 per cent of the 1.8 lakh stray dogs were sterilised in the city.

He slammed the GCC for not taking action to stem the unchecked growth of stray dogs saying that it has "exacerbated the crisis", leading to safety concerns among the public.