BENGALURU: The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has conducted a survey to identify the stray dog population and neuter them in order to bring down the dog bite cases in the city.
As per the BBMP’s survey, there are a total of three lakh dogs in the city limits. Of that, half are stray dogs, and the others are pet dogs. Stray dogs have bitten more than 70,057 people in three years and 17,000 this year. The civic body manages to administer at least 10,000 stray dogs with the rabies vaccines every month.
On an average, 70 people are bitten by stray dogs every day. According to the BBMP survey, 70,057 cases of stray dog bites have been reported over three years. In 2019-202 there were 42,818 cases, in 2020-2021 there were 18,629 instances, and in 2021-2022, there have been 17,610 cases of dog bites so far.
The number of stray dogs in the eight zones of the city is: East zone, 44,302; West zone, 28,482; South zone, 39,562; RR Nagar, 23,170; Dasarahalli, 23,170; Yelahanka, 36,219; Bommanahalli, 38,940 and Mahadevpura, 46,233. The corporation is spending Rs 3-5 crore to control the city’s stray dog population.
“In BBMP limits, there are more than three lakh dogs of which 1,50,000 are strays. In 2019, we have given anti-rabies vaccination for more that 1.5 lakh stray dogs. The number of dog bite cases has decreased in recent years. We have taken the necessary steps to control stray dogs”, said Dr Ravi Kumar, BBMP Animal Husbandry officer.