Public protests, scarcity of land hampering setting up of dog shelters, says Kerala govt.

The high density of population, public protests, and scarcity of land are hampering efforts to set up dog shelters, according to the State government.

The State government listed out the challenges it has been facing in an affidavit submitted before the Supreme Court the other day. The top court had directed all the States to set up dog shelters.

At present, two dog shelters are functioning in the State. Sheltering facilities have been started in all 20 permanent Animal Birth Control (ABC) centres. District Collectors have been asked to identify land for setting up more shelters. Besides the high population density, the scarcity of government land for the facilities is also a major challenge, the affidavit filed by Kerala’s Standing Counsel C.K. Sasi said.

The Revenue and Local Self-Government departments are in the process of identifying suitable land for new shelters. Once the land is finalised, the Animal Husbandry department will provide technical support for setting up the facilities.

District Animal Husbandry Officers have been asked to identify and prepare a list of animal welfare organisations and animal enthusiasts to assist in setting up shelters. At present, 22 dog feeding centres are operational across the State. Efforts are under way to identify additional feeding spots without causing inconvenience to the public, the affidavit said.

On the court directive to fence or construct compound walls for educational institutions, the State informed the court that 20,872 institutions already have fencing or compound walls. As many as 3,383 more institutions still need to set up the protective facilities. The State added that civic bodies, as government departments, could not initiate the construction of compound walls or fencing earlier due to the model code of conduct in force during the civic polls.

The Sports, General Education, Transport, Higher Education and Health departments, along with the State’s Railway establishment, have designated nodal officers for their institutions and taken steps to ensure fencing of all institutions under their control. All local bodies in the State have also appointed nodal officers to monitor and remove stray dogs from the premises of these institutions, the State government said.