AT a time when the government has failed to provide life saving Immunoglobulin for dog bite victims at the SMHS Hospital run sole Anti Rabies Clinic  (ARC) in the City, a whopping over Rs one crore have been spent on construction of dog pound at Shuhama, equipped with the state-of-the-art facilities like pre-operative and post- operative units where the canines are scheduled to stay during sterilization.
 And the money which is being spent on the “dog welfare” isn’t any special package from funds meant for animal welfare but what the state government has pumped in from the resources meant for development of Srinagar.
 The experts however are apprehensive of the benefits of dog sterilization pleading that by the time 40 canines would be sterilized 400 more would take birth in the City, which hosts around one lakh dogs while the MOS Home and MLA Amira Kadal Nasir Sogami says the accurate figure is: 91,110.

THE POUND
 Sources said the dog pound at Shuhama on the City outskirts is complete for use adding that the SMC plans to start the sterilization this month.
 “The dog pound, expected to house some four hundred dogs at a time, is ready,” said an SMC official associated with the project since its inception last year.
 The construction, he said, came up on 19 kanal land, provided by the SK Agriculture University of Science at Technology (SKUAST) at its Shuhama campus in Alasteng.
 An SMC Executive Engineer associated with the work said around Rs five million have been spent on the chain-link fencing of the pound alone while the rest of the money was spent on construction of separate concrete kennels with “well ventilated iron doors and glazed floor tiles”. 

SMC-AWBI TIE-UP
 The SMC is understood to have signed an MOU with the SKUAST (K) and the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) for the construction of the pounds and subsequent sterilization of dogs.

DOG CARE
 The sources said the impounded dogs will be looked after by specialized people: Dog Caretakers. Each such caretaker will look after 25 dogs and provide them with food and other requirements.
 “Around Rs 700 will be spent on the boarding and lodging of dog,” said a senior vet at the Shuhama varsity.
 But the dogs won’t be sterilized randomly. “A team of doctors will look into the fitness aspect first. If the dog is healthy only then he will be sterilized and this examination will take around a day at the pre-operative units,” he said.
 Once the sterilization will be performed, the dogs will be kept in post-operative care for two to three more days, he added.

SUCCESS CHANCES BLEAK
 Experts said the success chances of sterilization are bleak. “In the best case scenario, 50 dogs can be sterilized in a day, which means that no more than 1800 dogs can be sterilized in a year,” confided a senior vet posted at  SK Agriculture University of Science at Technology at Shuhama. “Given the alarming population of dogs by that time 18,000 more canines might take birth,” he said. 

SMC SILENT
 The SMC, which has spent the public money on dog pounds, is tight lipped over the Shuhama development. Firstly, the officials have no reply to question on what action could be taken against rabid dogs?
 “If bullets can be fired on humans in the name of law and order, why cannot rabid dogs be eliminated?” argues Imdad Saki, a prominent social activist seeking an end to the dog menace.
 The SMC Commissioner, Dr GN Qasba, who is being termed as a “dog lover” for his recent statements to defend animal rights, couldn’t be contacted for comments. “Sahib is busy in a meeting,” said the man who picked his phone.
 A SMC Joint Commissioner pleading anonymity said the money spent at dog pound wasn’t wastage of public money but for “welfare of humans”.
 “Human welfare is in focus (by construction of  pounds). We are doing it for citizens,” he said.

IMMUNOGULOBIN DEFICIT
 Even though the Anti Rabies Clinic at SMHS Hospital provides anti rabies vaccines free for now, the Immunogulobin –something vital for treatment of such victims –is nowhere available free.
 The patients are left with no options but to get it from open markets at a cost which ranges between Rs 400 to Rs 3000, depending on brand.
 The same came true for the family of three-year-old Dua Meraj who was recently mauled by dogs near her Habba Kadal residence. Her father, a driver by profession was left with no options but to buy it from open markets.
 Pleading the failure Director Health, Dr Saleem-Ur-Rehman said there were budgetary constraints because of which the Immunogulobin couldn’t be given free. “We are trying to formulate a strategy to make it freely available,” he assured.

BOTTOM-LINE MYSTERY
 At one of the hearings on dog menace last year the then Chief Justice FM Ibraheem Kalifullah had posed a million dollar question to the courtroom which nobody could reply. And his query still looks for answers:  Will a dog stop biting after sterilization?

Lastupdate on : Mon, 9 Apr 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 9 Apr 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 10 Apr 2012 00:00:00 IST