GCC continues to capture cattle and dogs to prevent menace

CHENNAI: A day after another incident of cattle attack on a resident in Triplicane, Corporation Commissioner J Radhakrishnan said that the capturing of the abandoned cattle is being continued by Greater Chennai Corporation as it was launched as a special drive.

The residents in several localities including Triplicane, Nanganallur, CMDA, Koyambedu, Arumbakkam and others, are complaining of the cattle menace. As many as 163 cows have been captured by the Greater Chennai Corporation. He also carried out an inspection on Tuesday in several areas of the city including Triplicane.

The commissioner said that the cattle are being caught and impounded in the shelters in Pudupet and Perambur maintained by the Greater Chennai Corporation corporation.

"We are not saying that the public should not raise cattle in the city but they should not leave the cattle on the roads. They should have sufficient space for the same and streets should not be the only place to keep them, " said the commissioner.

He added that GCC has put a total of Rs 5 lakh fine on the owners of cattle who abandoned their cattle in the public space this month and a fine of more than Rs 1 crore was levied last year. GCC has also spoken to the Commissioner of Animal Husbandry and a licensing system needs to be brought into place or people with adequate space for cattle rearing would be allowed to keep the cows.

The commissioner also said that dog menace is another concern being raised by the public and it is important to vaccinate the dogs. Rabies is a life threatening infection and we need to conduct the Animal Birth Control surgeries after capturing them and then leave them in the same space.

There are certain challenges in performing the birth control surgeries too. The pregnant dogs or the ones that just gave birth, cannot be put through the procedure. The procedure cannot be done on the puppies. About 500 of them would be left out because of this. We have captured about 1,866 dogs and we request dog lovers to work along with us to prevent Rabies deaths."

Talking about the measures being taken for mosquito eradication, he said that the special activities are being done to prevent the incidence of dengue, and malaria.

He said that the public should be careful with the storage of water in the homes as clean water mosquitoes - Aedes and Anopheles breed in clean water.

He said that the number of vector borne diseases are low but we need to take precautions. Thus, the breeding check activities of fogging, adding mosquito larval oil, spraying of insecticides and other activities are being planned in all the wards with the help of field staff.