The Amdavad municipal Corporation has formed a 14-member committee headed by the municipal commissioner to oversee the city’s first dog census, which will be similar to the census conducted for wildlife like big cats and sloth bears.
Among the total ten AMC officials on the panel will be the deputy municipal commissioner and the zoo superintendent. Other members will be a district animal husbandry official, an expert from a veterinary university, a legal expert and an NGO representative.
The panel will meet at least once in a month to evaluate progress of the census, which will follow guidelines under the National Action Plan for Dog-Mediated Rabies Elimination for India (NAPRE). The guidelines suggest survey and re-survey (SRS) to cover at least 70% of the dog population. With just random estimations done so far, AMC does not have concrete numbers.
AMC has decided to outsource the survey and will be taking up sterilization of the dogs on a war footing. Data on dogs and vaccination given to humans will be sent to the cattle nuisance control department every day. To prevent dog bites, the plan is to investigate areas of major concern by analyzing data from its govt-run and private hospitals and civic health centres.