Around 200 people, mostly Poolakkadavu residents, blocked the Animal Critical Care unit ambulance attached to the Animal Birth Control (ABC) project of the Kozhikode Corporation when it reached the designated campsite at Poolakkadavu on Monday.
The camp resumed on the Old Corporation building premises on Tuesday. The ABC project, launched by Minister for Agriculture and Animal Husbandry K.P. Mohanan on Sunday, is being implemented by the Corporation with the help of the Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (KVASU).
The project was to take off with a five-day camp at Poolakkadavu. The plan was to sterilise dogs captured from various parts of the city. A laparoscopic procedure was to be used. As per the plan, the sterilised animals were to be released at the place where they were captured after being administered rabies vaccine.
The people who blocked the vehicle said the authorities would release the dogs in the locality after the surgery. They said the biomedical waste generated would be dumped in the locality.
The authorities said the apprehension was baseless. “The laws governing ABC insist that the dogs should be left within a 1.5 km of the place of capture. This is because dogs are territorial animals, ABC Implementation Officer K.K. Baby said. The people’s concern over biomedical waste was also needless. There was no possibility of any waste being generated. Also, the ambulance of the KVASU, in which the surgeries would be done, was equipped with incinerators, Dr. Baby said. Southern Railway had come forward to provide land and other facilities for the camp. The Corporation building was chosen for the camp as the project was being implemented by the Corporation, Dr. Baby added.
Residents block ambulance attached to project
Fears misplaced, say authorities
