GUWAHATI, July 8 � Non-government organisation Just Be Friendly (JBF) has made an appeal to the people of Guwahati to extend their cooperation in sterilizing the stray dogs for a rabies-free city. The NGO, which is run by a trust, is implementing the free-of-cost street dog sterilisation programme in collaboration with the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) since April 2009.
Speaking to this newspaper, Dr Sasanka Shekhar Dutta, chief functionary of the JBF (India) Trust said that in several parts of the city, people are taking its volunteers as animal lifters and preventing them from taking the dogs to the organisation�s Animal Relief Centre located at Beltola Survey.
Dutta lamented that there are incidents of dog lifting by a section of the people who hail from other parts of the NE region for the purpose of consumption of the meat of the animal. This has made the local people of various city localities skeptic about intention of the voluntary organisation.
The JBF also provides treatment to the stray animals that fall victim to any road accident or disease. While the dogs and goats are taken to its Animal Relief Centre, cows and horses are provided treatment on-the-spot. The NGO has a mobile animal clinic for such on-the-spot treatment.
After providing treatment to the animals at its Animal Relief Centre, the organisation releases those animals at their places of origin.
Besides, it also provides treatment to the domesticated animals at its pet care centre on Basistha Road, against some fees. This helps it generate its own fund for running the organisation and its operations. But, the organisation mostly depends on public contribution, Dutta said.
The organisation also runs a school students� awareness programme on animal welfare. It runs another programme for the welfare of the dairy animals.
The organisation has now developed a special cart to carry the stray dogs to its Animal Relief Centre from various city localities at low cost. The Centre for Rural Development (CRD) has extended all the technical support required to develop this cart, said Dutta.
