Shortage of kennel capacity hampers ABC programme

In wake of growing dog menace across the city, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has decided to raise awareness and offer financial and medical support to victims of dog attacks.

- Siddharth Gadkari

PUNE: Between January and November this year, 23,374 citizens in the city were attacked by dogs. Despite this, the administration has not taken strong action, leading to growing frustration.

In recent days, stray dogs in Pune have become a growing concern, with strays attacking citizens in broad daylight. On Friday, a five-year-old boy, Samarth Suryavanshi, was seriously injured while playing in the parking lot of Chandrangan Society in Ambegaon Plateau. This has once again highlighted the issue in the city.

In response to the attacks, a private organisation working with the PMC captured four stray dogs from Chandrangan Society. In the last 20 days, 218 dogs in areas like Ambegaon Plateau, Bharati Vidyapeeth, and Katraj have been neutered and vaccinated. However, with the increasing number of stray dogs, it's clear that these measures are not sufficient.

Dr Sarika Funde, chief veterinary officer of PMC, provided an update on the recent stray dog attack, she said, "The boy is now out of danger. We visited the spot, caught the stray dogs involved, and sent them for vaccination and sterilisation. Additionally, we collected samples from the four stray dogs that bit the boy and sent them to the lab for rabies testing."