Bhubaneswar has stray dogs significantly higher than national average

The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has enumerated 47,126 stray dogs in Odisha’s capital city, 36 per 1000 humans - significantly higher than national average 11.

According to BMC, the enumeration of stray dogs was carried out in two phases — from September 18 to 21, and from September 22 to 25 across all 67 wards of the corporation area. As many as 410 teams were formed under the supervision of senior veterinary officers for the census.

The census outcome says there are currently 47,126 stray dogs in the BMC area. Among them, 23,047 are male, 15,552 are female, and 1,124 are puppies. Of these, 4,068 male dogs and 3,335 female dogs have been sterilized.

“Bhubaneswar’s current resident population is about 13 lakh (1.3 million). The stray dog population accounts for 3.62% of the human population — that is, on average, each ward has around 703 stray dogs,” says BMC.

The top 10 wards with the highest number of stray dogs are 23, 7, 49 and 65, Ward No. 23 has the highest 1,703 stray dogs followed by Ward No. 6 with 1,062 dogs.

“According to the 20th National Livestock Census conducted by the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Government of India, the stray dog density in the BMC area is significantly higher than the national average. While the national average is 11 stray dogs per 1,000 humans, Bhubaneswar has 36 stray dogs per 1,000 humans, compared to the state average of 39,” said the corporation

The BMC further said the census was conducted to reduce conflict between stray dogs and humans, improve the health and welfare of stray dogs, develop an effective and efficient sterilization programme, reduce dog bite incidents and protect the public and dogs from deadly diseases like rabies.