Shimla Municipality offering free parking on stray dog adoption

Pashu Sandesh, 23 November 2019

In a bid to free the picturesque Shimla town from the stray dog menace, Shimla Municipal Corporation is offering freebies on the adoption of the stray animal. The idea mooted by the Shimla Mayor Kusum Sadrate is an ambitious one. 

Shimla has more than 2000 stray Dogs on the street posing danger to the civil population. There are numerous cases of Dog bites annually and any such move may have the long term impact.

Shimla Municipality is offering free parking for one vehicle and no bill for garbage as an incentive for stray adoption. So far 10 people have expressed interest in the offer.

The adopted dog would be tagged and collared with a unique identification number to identify both the animal as well as the owner. Municipal Corp has planned to felicitate such owners and give widespread publicity to the scheme as an encouragement for the potential adopters. 

Mayor is hopeful that such an incentive would encourage not only the citizens but other social organisations for the adoption of the strays. Adoption would not only provide a humane solution for the stray menace but would modify the outlook of the people towards strays. Reduction in the number of the strays from the street would also reduce the number of dog bite cases which runs in thousands annually. 

Pashu Sandesh view: Such schemes are good and novel one but the permanent solution to start dog menace is Anti Birth Control (ABC) operations only. If ABC has been done in a faithful manner will drastically reduce the number of strays on the streets. The success of such schemes can be gauged from the effective control of strays by the Mumbai Municipal Corporation. ABC programs are always under the scanner with the potential for large scale corruption as the cost for ABC per animal falls around 1200Rs. Hopefully, Shimla Municipal Corp scheme bears good result and pave a way for other Municipal Corps to follow the suit.