Mysuru: With about 23,400 stray dogs within Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) limits and an average of three to five dog-bite cases reported daily, the civic body has intensified sterilisation and vaccination drives to control the population and reduce the risk of rabies.A stray dog census conducted in April 2025 forms the basis of MCC’s current action. In the previous financial year, the civic body sterilised 3,198 dogs, and since Jan this year, another 1,016 have been sterilised.MCC executive engineer KS Mruthyunjaya told TOI that the corporation has stepped up the sterilisation and vaccination drive. “As per the Supreme Court order, MCC has identified two feeding zones in every ward,” he said, adding that work is under way to establish a care centre at Rayanakere to relocate dogs found in institutions such as hospitals, govt offices, railway stations and bus stands. “A survey found over 400 such dogs, which will be relocated once the facility is ready,” he stated.Details of MCC’s initiatives were shared in the assembly as part of a broader statement on stray dog management across the state. Municipal Administration Minister Rahim Khan, replying to a query by MLA Suresh Babu CB on the stray dog menace, said the govt has sterilised over 1.2 lakh stray dogs and vaccinated over 1.4 lakh dogs against rabies across Karnataka since 2022.The minister said the govt is implementing measures under the Animal Birth Control (ABC) Regulations, 2023, and has instructed all urban local bodies to survey stray dogs, sterilise them, and administer anti-rabies vaccinations.Statewide surveys conducted in line with Supreme Court directions identified 17,262 stray dogs in 17,654 institutions such as hospitals, bus stands and railway stations. The govt has allocated over Rs 12.1 crore to 13 municipal corporations and over Rs 21.5 crore to 301 urban local bodies for establishing dog shelters and kennels, the minister replied.
