Pune Municipal Corporation introduces reflective QR collars for city dogs

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PUNE, Maharashtra: The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has decided to implement reflective collars containing geo-tagged QR codes for the city’s dogs as a measure to eradicate rabies spread by dogs.

The veterinary department of the municipal corporation has already started preparing a proposal to begin using these reflective neck collars for the canines which have their unique IDs strapped around their necks, containing details of their breed, vaccination and sterilization status, and contact details of feeders or owner.

Sarika Funde, Chief Veterinary officer of PMC, stated that stray dogs during the Animal Birth Control (ABC) programmes after vaccination and sterilization are given a neck belt and notching is done on the ear to identify the stray.

“The regular belt can be replaced with these reflective belts with QR code enabled geotag. When scanned with a mobile QR code scanner or special scanning cameras from a distance, the code will give all the relevant information about the stray,” Funde stated.

An official mentioned that the civic body has begun discussions with private firms. Software that will be mobile-compatible will be used with the belts. Also, during the registration or renewal of pet dog licenses, the neck belt can be given to the pet parents. If any pet goes missing the geotag can help track the location of the missing pet.