Mangalore : Mayor Mahabala Maarla who chaired a special meet at his office  on Friday August 8 to discuss the stray dog menace in the city, has directed  Health Officer Dr Manjaiah Shetty to present complete details on the population of stray dogs in the city, sterilisation measures etc,  during the next meeting of the MCC scheduled on August 12.

The mayor had convened the meet in the wake of the recent incident wherein stray dogs mauled a 2 year old child at Kudroli.  He informed that the Corporation would shortly launch a  programme to check stray dog menace  on the lines of a similar measure taken up by Hubli-Dharwad City Corporation to check stray pigs.

He further hinted at the MCC plans to  segregate the works of trapping stray dogs and sterilizing them. Mahabala Maarla  said presently the  task of catching stray dogs and sterilising them is  being handled by the Animal Care Trust at Shaktinagar and expressed his displeasure  over the progress registered.

Suma Nayak of Animal Care Trust who was also present said the population of stray dogs was on the rise as people abandon new born puppies near market places. Explaining the activities of the Trust, she said nearly 200 stray dogs are sterilized every  month.

There are a total of 12388 pet dogs  in the city and  2352 stray dogs as per the statistics of 2012. According to another statistics available   between 2010-2012, a total of   7,709 stray dogs were sterilized.