‘Track stray dogs behaviour with GPS collars, QR codes’: Shimla launches massive drive; move comes day after SC’s major order | India News

This is an AI generated picture.

NEW DELHI: The Shimla Municipal Corporation (SMC) has launched a major drive to observe stray dogs by equipping them with GPS-enabled collars and QR codes.SMC, certainly one of India’s oldest civic our bodies, has additionally began vaccination and sterilisation campaigns to stop rabies and scale back human-dog conflicts.The initiative comes a day after the Supreme Court revised its earlier directive on stray canine administration, ordering that sterilised and vaccinated dogs have to be launched again into the identical space. However, dogs contaminated with rabies or displaying aggressive behaviour shall be saved individually.The apex courtroom, in its order, additionally directed that public feeding of stray dogs won’t be permitted, and that devoted feeding areas have to be created.Mayor Surinder Chauhan mentioned the move to observe stray dogs with GPS collars and QR codes is supposed to enhance security and lower down rabies-related deaths.“Our vaccination and sterilisation drives have been going on for some time. Now, to minimise rabies cases where earlier, deaths were often discovered to have been caused by a dog bite only after the fact, we have started anti-rabies vaccination for dogs. So far, 2,000 dogs have been vaccinated. Alongside, we are attaching QR code collars that, when scanned, will reveal the dog’s position,” he instructed ANI.“Dog lovers and animal welfare groups can also track them. For aggressive dogs, we will attach a red tag so they can be identified and handled separately. We are educating the public, working with social organisations, and starting a massive sterilisation campaign,” he added.The mayor claimed Shimla is the primary Indian metropolis to take such an initiative. He additional claimed that organisations from Goa, Mumbai, Maharashtra, Patiala, and Himachal Pradesh’s Rampur have joined us.“This programme will also produce the first dog census in India, digitising details of each stray. Once the programme concludes, the Chief Minister will formally close it,” Chauhan added.Meanwhile, some residents stay cautious. Pradeep Kumar, a neighborhood instructed ANI that, “There is a lot of fear, especially for children. Once a dog bites, it’s a matter of life and death due to rabies. The idea of collars is good, but the start has not yet happened. There should be a clear count of how many stray dogs are in the city, and this should be published in newspapers so people can be cautious.”He additionally demanded strict accountability from officers. “If any official is negligent, action should be taken. Visitors from all over India come to Shimla and often only realise the danger after they are bitten and end up in a hospital, sometimes when it is already too late,” Kumar added.