AWBI rap for animal welfare centre

Mumbai: The Animal Welfare Board Of India (AWBI) on Monday ordered immediate action against an animal birth control (ABC) centre in the Vasai-Virar area. The move comes after an inspection exposed that the centre used expired drugs to treat animals, had no standard operating procedure (SOP) for carcass management and the head doctor there had an FIR registered against him. The AWBI has ordered the centre to stop conducting surgeries with immediate effect and reply to the show-cause notice issued.

People for Animals (PFA) conducted an inspection at the centre on December 28 last year, after it received a complaint against the centre. Nirali Karodia from PFA and Nanda Mahadik, a local activist, inspected the centre after people complained about dogs being handled poorly there, which led to their health deteriorating after being admitted in the centre.

The AWBI recognised the centre on February 17, 2012 and it currently has 10 employees apart from the doctor. It has four rooms and a total of 81 cages. According to Ms Karodia, there are no facilities for sanitising equipment, no UV light for sterilisation, no stethoscope, no weighing machine and no physician at the centre.
 
A PFA report submitted to the AWBI said, “The organisation should be blacklisted as it is a highly-unorganised NGO that treats animals unethically. There have been a huge number of cases of dogs going missing after being picked up, and dogs not being given proper anaesthesia during surgeries (as claimed by several activists from the Vasai-Virar area). An FIR has also been filed against the doctor.”

Ms Karodia added: “At times, when cruelty to animals in the society reaches extremely high proportions, ABC centres are of utmost importance. However, this case highlights the importance of monitoring the ABC centres closely.” There have been clashes in areas like Mira-Bhayandar and Virar-Vasai, wherein residents were criticised because of feeding stray dogs. Sterilising dogs was identified as one of the important ways to finish off this fight among the residents of societies.