Livestock census to kick-start soon in dist

The Animal Husbandry Department will soon start conducting livestock census in Ludhiana district. It is conducted countrywide every five years to gather information about the livestock population and to record the count and demographics of domesticated, stray and poultry animals. The census carries out a head count of the number of domesticated, poultry and stray animals.

Dr Amrik Singh, Deputy Director, Animal Husbandry, Ludhiana, said that they would start conducting the survey very soon once the immunisation against foot and mouth disease was completed, which was being done as part of a statewide mass immunisation drive that started on October 2. “The census is a vital tool for collecting data on the livestock population, which further helps in planning, implementation and monitoring of programmes to improve the livestock sector. In addition to this, the census findings also help the departments concerned in controlling the growing population of stray animals and their relocation,” he said.

“The census will be carried out by the department concerned and the findings will also help the municipal corporation in assessment of the population of the stray dogs and stray cattle. We will come to know if population of dogs/cattle in certain areas has increased or decreased. Depending upon the data, we will formulate our next step in this regard,” said medical officer in Ludhiana Municipal Corporation Vipul Malhotra.

On an average 70-90 cases of dog bites are registered every day at the Civil Hospital. Despite the sterilisation drive in the city, there is no let-up in the dog bite cases and people continue to live under the fear of stray dogs.

“The dog sterilisation drive was started 2021 and nearly 1.50 lakh stray dogs had been sterilised during this period. Around 2,000 stray cattle have already been relocated to various gaushalas and construction of more sheds is on the cards,” added Dr Malhotra.

Many times stray cattle have led to accidents on roads, especially during night time while stray dogs can be seen in every locality and cases of dog bite cases have been reported from here.