Mumbai engineer develops tags with QR codes for stray dogs

Mumbai: An engineer has developed tags with QR codes to keep track of stray dogs in Mumbai. The dog lover plans to provide people with these tags at a nominal price to increase its reach.

Speaking to ANI, the dog lover said the technology will also help the government find dogs' locations and strategise sterilisation as well as vaccination. "It can be done through the database. We want to offer this QR at a nominal price right now. People and organisations who feed or rescue animals can use this."

Users can scan the QR code with the phone which will give them access to the dog's file. "I attach the QR code with the reflective collar and then scan the QR with the scanner on my phone. After scanning, I get all the details in the digital form of a particular dog. This creates a UID (Unique identification), gender, pet name, name of the caretaker, phone number of the caretaker, and medical/vaccination history of the dog," he added.

In December 2022, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) decided to carry out a survey to determine the population of stray dogs in the city and create a database. This will help in designing birth control strategies for the animals. Civic body officials think there has been an increase in the dog population over the years and the incidents of man-animal conflicts have also increased. A 2014 report says the city had 95,172 stray dogs at the time.