Chennai, Aug 5 — The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) will launch a citywide vaccination campaign in the second week of August, targeting around two lakh stray dogs as part of intensified efforts to prevent rabies and improve animal welfare.
The campaign will cover all zones of the city and will also provide free anti-rabies and anti-parasite vaccines to pet dogs. Pet owners have been urged to make use of the programme and ensure their animals are vaccinated.
The civic body had vaccinated around 1.47 lakh stray dogs last year, when Chennai’s stray dog population was estimated at approximately 1.80 lakh.
With the population believed to have increased since then, the GCC has raised this year’s vaccination target to two lakh dogs. The campaign comes alongside an expansion of the Corporation’s Animal Birth Control (ABC) infrastructure.
At present, 11 of the 15 ABC centres in Chennai are operational. Two more centres at Nandambakkam and Perungudi are expected to begin functioning next week. The remaining centres at Athipattu in Ambattur and Sholinganallur are scheduled to become operational by the fourth week of August.
Once all 15 facilities are functioning, the GCC expects its capacity to carry out sterilisation procedures to increase substantially.
The existing centres together conduct around 200 ABC surgeries every day. The Corporation expects this to double to approximately 400 surgeries per day with the additional facilities. Nearly 24,000 birth control surgeries have been performed on stray dogs since January this year. The number of procedures has steadily increased, from 1,490 in January to 2,493 in February and 3,058 in March.
The Corporation conducted 3,259 surgeries in April; 3,637 in May and 4,765 in June. The monthly figure reached its highest level so far in July, when 5,324 surgeries were done.
The vaccination campaign, however, comes amid concerns raised by animal welfare activists over the handling of stray dogs during capture and vaccination operations.
Concerns have also been expressed over maintaining the required cold-chain conditions for vaccines and ensuring that vaccinated animals are safely returned to their territories. The GCC has rejected allegations of improper vaccine handling, maintaining that vaccination vials are stored and transported with necessary safeguards.
The civic body has also sought greater public participation in the campaign, particularly from pet owners, local animal feeders and rescuers, as it seeks to expand vaccination coverage and reduce the risk of rabies transmission across Chennai.