A spot designated for community dog feeding in Erode in Tamil Nadu.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement.
To curb human-animal conflict and comply with Supreme Court directions, Erode Corporation has designated 50 dog-feeding spots across the city.According to the 2011 Census, the Corporation covers 109.52 sq. km. and has a population of 4.98 lakh spread across 60 wards in four zones. With complaints of stray dogs causing nuisance to residents and road users on the rise, the civic body has stepped up the implementation of the Animal Birth Control (ABC) programme.Residents in several parts of the city have complained of packs of stray dogs chasing two-wheelers, attacking pedestrians and creating a nuisance during the night.A GPS-based survey conducted by the Corporation in 2023 estimated the city’s stray dog population at around 27,000. The civic body engaged Animal Helping Hands, a non-governmental organisation, to implement the programme at the ABC centre in Solar. The NGO sterilises about 1,200 dogs a month and is paid ₹1,650 a dog for capture, sterilisation, anti-rabies vaccination and release in the same locality. More than 12,000 dogs have been sterilised so far.Despite the programme, complaints about the sterilised dogs from residents and road users persist. The Supreme Court has directed civic bodies to identify designated feeding spots in every ward and ensure that community dogs are fed only at those locations instead of on streets and other public places. It has also directed civic bodies to install signboards at the designated sites.City Health Officer Gowrishankar told The Hindu that the designated locations had been identified and signboards installed to ensure that community dogs are fed only at these spots. Feeding community dogs at random locations, particularly along roadsides and near junctions, results in dogs congregating there, affecting the movement of vehicles and increasing instances of dogs chasing motorists, he said. “The public should feed community dogs only at the designated locations to help prevent human-animal conflict,” he added. Published - July 01, 2026 05:49 pm IST
