Panaji: State government has decided to set up three dog shelters, one in each district, to lodge strays involved in dog bites “to reduce their aggression”. Similarly, the government has decided to appoint 20 dog catchers.Any stray dog that bites a human will be kept for 15 days in a dog shelter to reduce its aggression before it is released to its original place. Last year, Goa logged 19,368 dog bite cases as against 17,323 in 2024, with Salcete reporting 5,252, the highest across all talukas.
Explaining the need for dog shelters in Goa, a senior govt official said that “when a stray dog reaches a particular strength in its jurisdiction, it becomes aggressive and starts to bite humans”.The official said that when a dog bite incident is reported, the stray dog will be identified and kept in a dog shelter. In that period, another dog waiting to take its place in terms of gaining strength in its locality will replace it, and when the first is returned to its locality, it will be less aggressive and will stop attacking humans, the official said.The decision was taken at a meeting of the state monitoring committee on animal birth control rules, 2001. During the discussion, some members said that it would be difficult to transport a stray dog to a shelter that would be around 50-60 km away.A senior official said that the committee decided to go ahead with three dog shelters as a pilot project. The directorate of panchayats and revenue department are likely to identify land to establish these dog shelters.Similarly, the committee decided that panchas and councilors should identify persons who know the area and the department concerned will train them as dog catchers.A govt official said that if a dog catcher is not well versed with the area, it is possible that the stray dog will run and hide, and thus, locals will be roped in for the job.
