To foster holistic veterinary care and improve awareness on vaccinations, the Veterinary University Training and Research Centre here under Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University is set to adopt a village in Tirupur district on a pilot basis.
For the pilot project P. Aandipalayam has been identified.
“Through the village adoption programme, we wanted to ensure implementation of scientific animal healthcare management and rearing techniques in each of the households that either own farm animals like cow and goat, pet animals like dog and cat, or having backyard poultry,” said R. Selvaraj, head of the research centre.
Under healthcare segment, the officials of the centre along with veterinarians from animal husbandry department will administer free vaccinations to entire animals in the village.
In the case of farm animals, the methodical preventive and curative health care practices will help increase the milk and meat production which, in turn, enhance the earnings of farmers.
A livestock census will be taken at first and will identify houses that have pet animals. Stray animals in the village too will be enumerated. “This will help us watch the health records of every animal, including those in the streets and keep track of their vaccination schedules effectively,” said Dr. Selvaraj.
Officials at the centre said that the model set at P. Aandiplayam would be implemented at other villages too in a phased manner.
“Besides this, people from other villages will be encouraged to replicate the health management system by themselves so that the concept of animal healthcare in totality is spread at a faster pace,” Dr. Selvaraj added.
