Haryana will be the first state where the sterilization programme for dogs under the National Animal Welfare Board (NAWB) will be implemented followed by in other states, the body's president President R S Kharb said today.
"We have decided to check the population of dogs to control rabies. The beginning is going to be made from Haryana where the sterilization of stray dogs will be started soon," Kharb said here.
"Some 20,000 people die due to rabies in the country each year and the number of stray dogs had become alarming", he said, adding that the Rs 50 crore project of NAWB will be introduced in other states soon.
The sterilisation operations will be conducted by the veterinarians of Lala Lajpat Rai University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (LUVAS), Hisar and State Animal Husbandry department.
"There are about 30 million stray dogs in the country. The dogs are prolofic breeders because one bitch gives birth to about ten thousand pups in ten years, though the mortality rate is high among them, but the total growth is alarming. We can not kill dogs but can sterilize them", Kharb said.
"The dogs after sterilization would be left in the same area where from they will be caught for sterilization because dogs do not tolerate any other new dog in their own territory," LUVAS' vice chancellor Kant Sharma said.
The sterilization of dogs calms them down and they do not remain aggressive to attack and bite, he added.
