Census of dogs to start in Nashik today

NASHIK: A city-based non-governmental organization (NGO), Sharan — the shelter for animals — will start the census of dogs on Sunday.
The Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC), which had decided to conduct the dog census with the help of an NGO in August, had postponed the exercise indefinitely citing technical snag. According to the instructions of the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWB) to conduct dog census every two years, the veterinary department of the NMC had decided to do the exercise for the first time in India.But it was indefinitely postponed in December.
The NGO that had discussions about conducting the dog census with the NMC will be carrying out the exercise on its own now. It had conducted the census at one location of the city on an experimental basis around two months ago. On Wednesday, it will begin the census in the same area and will continue it in all prabhags simultenously.
"We have brought the ward maps and will conduct the census ward-wise. We will start the process on College Road on Sunday. Two months ago we had conducted the exercise and found 62 dogs. We will begin the census in the same place. This time we will also click photographs so that we can get an accurate count and avoid repetition," founder of the NGO Sharanya Shetty.
"Eight volunteers in a group of four will move around for an hour in the same area and we will compare the data of both the groups. Subsequently, the other prabhags will be covered with the groups. Besides, the dogs have their territories marked and they don't stray much far away. Early morning is the best time to conduct the census," he Shetty added.