RSPCA steps up dogs’ sterilisation, registration campaign

By BERRY DINGHAN
THE Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) and the National Capital District Commission have stepped up their campaign to control the dog population in the city through sterilisation and registration.
NCDC city manager Bernard Kipit acknowledged the RSPCA’s work and its partnership to control the dog population.
Kipit said NCDC saw the importance of RSPCA’s work on animals and was supportive of its new approach in controlling the dog population.
He said he was planning to legalise its work to deal with dogs considering the health and safety of the public.
“To the city residents, if you want to keep your dogs then you must first register them and keep their numbers down to two and no more than that,” he said.
The RSPCA conducted its first dog de-sexing awareness at Tokorara Secondary School yesterday, demonstrating dog sterilisation through “neuter”. The female dogs were “spayed” to prevent them producing puppies.
RSPCA team leader Dr Jessica Hoopes said their preliminary research on dogs in the city concluded that the number of dogs people owned were more than the number of dogs on the streets.
She said owners disowned their dogs and removed them when they became sick. This was how the dogs end as strays.
Hoopes urged dog owners to register their dogs and be taught ways to look after them and control their population through de-sexing.