The Humane Society International (HSI), India celebrated the completion of five years of sterilisation of street dogs in Uttarakhand on Sunday. The organisation has sterilised and vaccinated nearly 46,000 stray dogs in the last five years. The organisation held an event to celebrate these five years, which was attended by the Dehradun mayor Sunil Uniyal 'Gama' as the chief guest. He appreciated the organisation's work and said that the Municipal Corporation of Dehradun always provides its support for such causes.

Talking about the organisation's work in the State, senior programme manager of HSI  Piyush Patel said that efficient, high-quality humane dog management practices have played a significant role in reducing the plight of street dogs, reducing dog bites, and reducing conflicts between humans and dogs in various parts of the State. He said, "The health and welfare of dogs is HSI's top priority. With our advanced and carefully monitored medical and surgical protocols, we have successfully sterilised over 46,000 street dogs in Uttarakhand. This has helped reduce the number of puppies born on the streets, many of whom otherwise die early or suffer greatly due to lack of adequate veterinary care. A healthier and more stable dog population means a healthier and more peaceful community so when we look at the population of dogs, we are also looking for the communities these dogs live with.

" He said that the organisation has been working mainly in Dehradun, Rishikesh, Mussoorie, Nainital and nearby areas of these cities but after achieving great success there, HSI is looking forward to expanding to new cities of the State. He also informed that nearly 80 per cent street dogs have been vaccinated and sterilised in Dehradun and their organisation will work to make it to 100 per cent. One of the volunteers Namrata Upadhyay who has been working with HSI since 2018 said that the welfare of street dogs does not entirely depend on what they eat but also on whether they have been sterilised and vaccinated. She said, "Since the time HSI started working in Dehradun, we have seen a difference in the attitude of people towards street dogs and incidents of conflict between dogs and citizens have also reduced."