ABC Centre in Kozhikode clocks 7,000 sterilisations

Facility was set up in 2019

The Animal Birth Control (ABC) Centre of the Kozhikode Corporation, set up in 2019, has sterilised 7,000 stray dogs so far. The number could have been 8,000 or more if not for the constant shutdowns due to the COVID-19 outbreak. “In the last two years, we had to shut down the centre completely at least four times. All our 13 staff members were infected at least once and four of them were infected twice,” said V. Sreeshma, the Corporation’s Veterinary Officer, who is also the coordinator of the ABC project. When the ABC Centre-cum-Veterinary Hospital began functioning at Poolakkadavu on the outskirts of the city about two years ago, there was public opposition to the practice of releasing sterilised dogs back in the neighbourhood from where they were captured. In the first four months, the centre crossed the mark of 1,000 sterilisations.