Animal Birth Control
India is home to an estimated population of 35-40 million stray dogs, making it one of the highest in the world. ART PUNE has been actively working to identify and address the issues facing the stray dog population in the Pune District.
One of our major projects was PROJECT RURAL ABC, which we carried out in collaboration with VOSD. While Pune City and PCMC have government-funded ABC programs in place, the surrounding areas have seen a significant increase in stray dog populations and accompanying conflicts and cruelty towards animals.
To address this, we conducted a survey to understand the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of local villagers, and used the results to design and implement our project. Through this project, we sterilized 185 female dogs for free in various villages including Shewalewadi, Wagholi, Manjri Budruk, Loni, Theur, Shirur, Manjri Khurd, etc
Our team also assists in ABC drives by identifying unsterilized dogs, reporting to ABC agencies, coordinating and helping in catching. Furthermore, none of the dogs under our care are ever released without first being sterilized.
Project Mau
Born in December 2021, Project MAU is an initiative to sterilize stray cats in an effort to control their population. Till the recent past, animal birth control at ART was restricted to dogs in Pune, but the exploding cat population poses a threat to little kittens everywhere. They usually get dumped in abandoned areas, are killed or treated cruelly.
Project MAU focuses on providing birth control surgeries free of cost for low income groups and free roaming slum cats that are likely to get pregnant. The paid programme includes very low cost sterilization for community cats in housing societies.
The TNR program (Trap, Neuter, Release) is now moving to Shivaji Market in Camp in an attempt to neuter about 200 to 250 cats in batches over 6 months.