Faced with death of three persons due to dog bite in as many months, the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation will take up a special anti-Rabies vaccine (ARV) drive in the industrial area comprising Wards 45 to 49 in the third week of the month.
Four teams will take up the intensive drive that is expected to last about one and a half months. The dogs will be vaccinated and a blue spot put on its forehead. If the dog has not been sterilised under the animal birth control (ABC) programme it will be sterilised. An amount of Rs.2.16 lakh will be spent.
According to City Veterinary Officer B. Ramamohana Rao, about 5,000 dogs will be covered in the five wards in Malkapuram area in which the three deaths occurred. Six deaths have been recorded due to dog bite since 2008 in the city.
The vaccination programme has been taken up as the efficacy of the vaccine administered earlier would be up to three years, Dr. Ramamohana Rao said.
Besides the special drive in these wards, another 5,000 dogs would be covered in the rest of the city during the current year.
The number of dogs in the city is estimated to be between 70,000 and 80,000. It was estimated that between 30,000 and 40,000 dogs were covered under ABC/ARV in the MoU reached with a voluntary organisation and implemented in the last three years.
Following a decision taken by the Standing Committee, the corporation has decided to take up the ABC/ARV programme on its own and took about three months to ready itself for the task. The Municipal Commissioner has already written to the Animal Husbandry Department to depute doctors for the task.
