Two students of Madras Christian College have come up with an innovative solution to tackle the dog-deer conflict on campus. His project is designed to bring in revenue in the long run for the college as well.
W Smriti and M Karthik, final year students of the Department of Zoology at MCC, came up with a project as part of their curriculum, which was then fine-tuned by the Ideation Center in the college.
“The problem of dogs intensifies between March and July when there are fewer people on the premises and dogs do not get enough food. There are three types of dogs in the complex – domesticated, stray and wild. Wild dogs form a herd and stray dogs join them. They attack deer roaming alone,” said Smriti.
The students then approached People for Cattle in India to start an anti-rabies vaccination program for dogs on campus. On Monday, as a first measure, 20 dogs were vaccinated, Principal P. Wilson said. The college also started a wildlife conservation club.
Mr Wilson said the students had made several suggestions, including setting up a clinic, grooming center and dog hostel, from which the revenue would be used to care for community dogs on campus.
Meanwhile, two students on campus inspire animal-loving students to start a feeding program and befriend dogs. With this they will be able to geotag the animals and keep an eye on their movements. The female of the species will be released to check the dog population.
The statistics department offered to use the data from geotagging to generate information that could be used for research. Mr Wilson said that the students have proposed to domesticate community dogs and train them as guard dogs to keep porcupines and peacocks away from damaging crops grown on the 5 acres of farmland on the campus.
The data generated from dog behavior will help the institute redesign the botanical cover of the campus to keep deer out of the reach of dogs.