It was a dogs’ day out. People passing by stopped to look at different breeds, ranging from German Shepherd, Great Dane, pugs to Dalmatians on Sunday.
Pet owners brought their dogs to the vaccination camp at Government Veterinary Hospital at Labbipet and camps organised by Krishna District Milk Producers' Mutually Aided Co-op Union Ltd. at the Vijaya Dairy parlours at Auto Nagar, Lenin Centre and Milk Factory.
A number of pet owners, with their dogs in tow, came to the veterinary hospital and other camps to get the pets vaccinated on the occasion of the World Zoonoses Day. The veterinary hospital premises were filled with dog lovers and their pets by 9 a.m.
Children weaved their way around the crowds and fussed over the smaller breeds like the Pug, but stayed clear of big ones like the Great Dane and the German shepherd. While the Pomeranian breed dogs were seen in large number, Border Collie, Bull Mastiff, Dashhund, Indian Spitz, Labrador and, of course, Chinese Pugs were some of the other breed dogs that were brought for vaccination.
Animal Husbandry Joint Director Damodara Naidu said that as many as 800 registrations were witnessed in an hour. Last year, close to 2,000 dogs were vaccinated at the hospital. A total of 1,500 doses of vaccine were kept ready. Vaccination would be continued on Monday too if there were any spillovers, he said.
Several diseases are transmitted from animals to humans, causing mortality and morbidity. It was the duty of all persons keeping animals to get them vaccinated for these diseases, he added.
Earlier, Vijayawada (East) MLA Gadde Ramamohan Rao and Vijayawada (Central) MLA Bonda Umamaheswara Rao inaugurated the camp. Louis Pasteur created the vaccine for Rabies on July 6 in 1885. In recognition of his contribution, the World Zoonoses Day was being observed on the day.
