State to introduce dog adoption policy

MUMBAI: While admitting stray dogs have become a menace, the state government has announced to roll out a dog adoption policy with the help of NGOs and setting up shelters with the help of urban and rural local bodies until they are adopted.

According to rough estimates, the state has over 1.2 million stray dogs. The stray dog menace was raised by MLA Pratap Sarnaik in the Legislative Assembly on Friday. He said that the number of stray dogs has been increasing owing to the failure of the authorities.

He said that the dogs were not sterilised or kept in shelter to ensure there was no threat to human beings. He also called for a dog adoption policy so that the stray dogs are taken care of properly.

Following this, animal husbandry minister Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil announced to chalk out a dog adoption policy. “We will also set up shelters for dogs at the local-level. We will help the local bodies to set up such shelters and encourage adoption. District administrations and local bodies have been directed to form a committee to monitor the animal birth rate at district-levels,” he said.

The minister also announced to set up a high-level expert committee to discuss the measures to be taken for the management of the stray dogs. He said that all the stakeholders, including NGOs working in the field will be part of it.

Send stray dogs to Assam: Bachchu Kadu

Independent MLA and former minister Bachchu Kadu surprised the members of the lower house by demanding to dispatch the stray dogs to Assam. “Stray dogs are in demand in Assam. They fetch good selling price of up to ₹8,000. To control the population of the stray dogs in state they should be dispatched to Assam. I am saying this after a proper inquiry during our stay in Guwahati,” he said, leading to laughter in the house.

Kadu was one of the 40 rebel MLAs who stayed in Guwahati for about two weeks after the split in Shiv Sena in June.