As the sterilisation programme initiated by the sub-metropolis to check the population of street dogs has so far proved ineffective, the number of hounds prowling the streets has continued to rise.   What’s more, the officials at the sub-metropolis cannot even exterminate the stray dogs to control their rising population for fears of being rebuked by animal rights activists.  

A survey conducted by the Regional Veterinary Service Directorate back in 2006 had put the number of stray dogs in Biratnagar metropolis to be at 8,000 while the whole Morang district is said to host an estimated 33,000 stray dogs.  

“But in the last eight years, the sub-metropolis witnessed an exponential rise in the population of stray dogs as their number crossed the 20,000 mark,” said Deputy Chief of the Biratnagar sub-metropolis, Pradip Kumar Niraula. He opined that as food sources are relatively higher in the city compared to the rural areas, stray dogs and their pups that wander into the city in search of food never return to the places they come from, resulting in the rise in their population in the city areas.

Every year the population of stray dogs in the sub-metropolis rises by a whooping 1,000 to 1,500. Meanwhile, the residents have been riled by all sorts of problem and the accompanying terror factor brought about by the sharp rise in the number of street dogs in the city.  There has been many instances of stray dogs moving in large groups in the sub-metropolis.