Pied piper, US experts to tame canines in Valley

Srinagar, Feb 18 (PTI) Concerned over the growing menaceof stray dogs and rising cases of dog bites, the KashmirValley administration has decided to hire the services of a''pied-piper'' and a team of US experts to tame the canineshere.

The Divisional Commissioner Asgar Hassan Samoon hasdirected the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) to allowKhurshid Ahmed Mir, a self-claimed pied-piper, to try hisskills in two municipal wards on experimental basis, anofficial spokesman said.

Mir, however, will not be allowed to do anything illegalor kill the stray dogs, he said.

Besides roping in Mir, the administration has alsoasked a team of US experts to train the staff of the SrinagarMunicipal Corporation (SMC) in the "art of catching" straydogs.

The US team, which is coming to the Valley on February28, will train employees of SMC with the scientific procedureof catching stray dogs, the spokesman said.

What prompted the authorities to "flush"out stray dogsis rising cases of dog bites and their growing population,which is said to have crossed one lakh.

The services of the pied-piper, who claims to tame straydogs without killing a single one, will be utilised onexperimental basis, they said.

Mir will be allowed to work in more areas of the summercapital where rising instances of dog-bites have becomea major cause of concern, they said.

The dog-catchers will be placed near garbage dumps tocatch the canines for sterilisation.

Government of J-K had earlier announced to launch asterilisation drive and provide incentives to them.