India, Aug. 20 -- Bhubaneswar: The dog sterilisation drive being conducted by the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) in the city has been crawling at a snail's pace. The civic body launched an Animal Birth Control (ABC) campaign this May in collaboration with the Hyderabad-based Vets' Society for Animal Welfare and Rural Development (VSAWRD). The aim was to sterilise 2,000 stray dogs every month. However, the actual progress has been far from the target, with only 400 to 500 dogs sterilised monthly. In the past three months, just 1,456 dogs have undergone the procedure.

Although no official dog census has been conducted, earlier estimates suggest that nearly 70,000 stray dogs roam across Bhubaneswar. Under a three-year contract, VSA...