4 months ago
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The State government has decided to close 24 veterinary institutions in Bengaluru Urban district, along with four in Bengaluru Rural, and shift them to other places in the State where the cattle-to-hospital ratio is very poor.
However, this has drawn the ire of animal rights activists in the city, who have argued that determining the requirement of a veterinary institution only based on the cattle count in a city like Bengaluru and not considering the pet animal population is unscientific.
In an order of the Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Department, accessed by The Hindu, the department says that according to the guidelines of the National Commission of Agriculture (NCA), for every 5,000 cattle units there needs to be a veterinary institution.
While there are 4,234 institutions in the State, there are 101 and 103 veterinary institutions in Bengaluru Urban and Bengaluru Rural districts, respectively.
The note further adds that there has been a demand from various parts of Karnataka to start veterinary institutions where the ratio is far less than that prescribed in the guidelines.
“As there is no proposal before the department to start new veterinary institutions, it is proposed to shift veterinary institutions - 24 in Bengaluru Urban and four in Bengaluru Rural -, where the ratio of cattle to the veterinary institution is less than 1,300, to places where the ratio is much less and there is a need for more veterinary institutions,” the order says.
Arun Prasad, an animal rights activist, said that the proposal was unscientific. “This move will be detrimental to the treatment and care animals in the city get. The Minister should not approve the proposal,” he said, adding that calculating the ratio only based on cattle was unscientific as there are other animals, including pets, which are more in number in the city that also require care.
The Jayanagar Canine Squad, a voluntary organisation working on rescuing and treating accident-prone stray dogs, have now written to K. Venkatesh, Minister for Animal Husbandry, taking objection to the proposal to shut down the Veterinary Hospital, Jayanagara.
“The veterinary hospital in Jayanagar sees nearly 1,500 cases every month. The poor and the low-income groups who own livestock or a dog lover are helped by the hospital,” the letter said, appealing to him to not shut down the facility.
The squad members said they take all the rescued dogs to the hospital regularly.
“The order claims these clinics are underutilised. In the case of the Jayanagar Hospital, parents of pet dogs and cats who cannot afford private clinics get their pets vaccinated and treated there. The facility is usually crowded during the day. Instead of closing it, the government should look at ways of improving the facility,” said C.N. Kumar, a senior civic activist.
