In a first of its drive, BMC vaccinates 40,000 stray dogs since Sept

In its first ever large scale initiative, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has vaccinated 35,000-40,000 stray dogs since September.

Over the last few months, the civic officials aim to vaccinate about 1 lakh strays.

This effort is likely the first where a municipal corporation has initiated a dog vaccination drive on such a large scale, said Dr Kalimpasha Pathan, head of BMC’s veterinary health department.

The vaccination drive is part of the deal between the BMC and Mission Rabies and Worldwide Veterinary Services signed in July. It is restricted to the western suburbs where dog bite cases are high.

The vaccines are provided to BMC for free by multiple NGOs and Boehringer Ingelheim, a pharmaceutical company. 

This development comes as the city witnesses an average of 60,000 dog bite cases each year. In September, the BMC also placed Near Field Communication (NFC) tags on 300 to 400 strays containing details like gender, vaccination status, and pet status. The tags were provided by some NGOs.

Meanwhile, after a one-year delay, on January 16, the BMC initiated its decennial stray dog and domestic animal census. The last census in 2014 revealed the city’s stray population to be around 96,000, while officials now estimate this figure to have crossed more than 1.6 lakh.