The Tehran Municipality (TM) plans to vaccinate stray dogs and equip them with GPS-fitted collars.
The stray canine population will also be controlled through sterilization in the mountainous regions by the end of the Iranian year (ends March 20), said Reza Ghadimi, managing director of the TM’s Organizing Industries and Occupations Center.
Pointing to the vaccination and sterilization of more than 200 dogs and equipping them with GPS-fitted collars in Darakeh - a mountainous region north of Tehran - in the first week of the plan implementation, Reza Ghadimi said: “Our first collaboration was with non-government organizations (NGO) to protect dogs from public attacks; we will apply the same strategy in other mountainous regions of Tehran’s suburbs as well to familiarize people with the canine protection methods,” he said, quoted by Mehr News Agency.
GPS-fitted collars in yellow, chosen by the TM and NGOs – is as an important part of the canine protection and vaccination plan since it would make it possible to identify them for treatment at veterinary clinics in Tehran. “Twenty veterinarians from NGOs who voluntarily participated in the plan delivered free services,” he added.
If dogs have sufficient food in their natural habitat, they will not come into the city during cold seasons of the year in search of food, he noted, adding that the next phase of project would be implemented in Darband - another mountainous region in the north of Tehran - in collaboration with volunteers and NGOs.
The project ‘Controlling Dogs that Have No Owners’ started a year ago in Tehran province.
In the past year no stray dog in Tehran province has been shot dead, he said. The move is to protect dogs is in collaboration with an animal protection NGO and includes other animals which have no owners as well.
Volunteers will be trained to help feed stray dogs in their natural habitat, he added.
