bhubaneswar the state government on monday has started ambulance service for animals two separate vehicles will be deployed in berhampur and cuttack urban areas to provide emergency assistance to sick and injured animalschief minister naveen patnaik dedicated the ambulances at a statelevel function organised here on monday the ambulance units will be equipped with necessary medical equipment like surgical instruments animal lifting sterilizer and standing support instruments for treatment of animals suffering from diseases or injured due to accidentsthe state government has made a budgetary provision of rs 1 crore for this service the two vehicles equipped with all necessary tools cost around rs 30 lakh around five staff including a veterinary surgeon attendants and livestock inspector will be engaged for each ambulance said pratap chandra dash director of animal husbandry and veterinary services right now we do not have any helpline or toll free number to avail the service but we will circulate phone numbers of block veterinary officer or chief district veterinary officers even people can contact local livestock inspectors to get the service said dashhe said they receive information regarding accident of cattle and dogs on the road besides the disease we get several reports regarding the accident of cattle and dogs from urban areas so we decided to start the service on experiment basis from these two urban areas said the directorsometimes people face difficulties in identifying the cattle owners of the injured or distress livestock and leave them unattended and uncared for a long period but the ambulance team will address the issue by providing emergency veterinary assistance to the animals the team may also bring some sick animals to the veterinary hospital for followup treatment in these cities said a senior officer of the animal resources development department gagan kumar dhal agriculture production commissioner said they will plan to provide these facilities for other cities after reviewing the performance of these ambulance services official sources said odisha has 1139 lakh stray cattle by 2012 census besides the two cities have more than 30000 stray dogs sources said