Hounding out the menace of rabies

The ‘Mission Rabies’ has ensured that more than 15,000 dogs have been sterilised

The Worldwide Veterinary Service, International Training Centre in the Nilgiris, where sterilisations are being conducted on stray dogs.

Thanks to its relative isolation and yearly vaccination drives conducted by NGOs in the district, there has not been a single reported incident of rabies in dogs or people in the Nilgiris for the last decade.

The Worldwide Veterinary Service (WVS), an international training centre run by the Indian Project for Animals and Nature (IPAN) and funded by Dogs Trust UK, has been training veterinarians across India, as well as from Bangladesh and Nepal on sterilisation and surgery techniques, while also helping to spearhead campaigns to vaccinate and sterilise stray dogs across the Nilgiris. Their efforts, which are being pursued with ‘Mission Rabies’ has ensured that more than 15,000 dogs have been sterilised and given anti-rabies vaccinations since 2010. Ilona Otter, the WVS Director of International Veterinary Training, said that rabies has been controlled in the Nilgiris due to a combination of factors, including its relative lack of accessibility, which has ensured that stray dogs from other districts, potentially carrying the rabies virus being unable to infect the local population. As dogs from Mettupalayam are also being vaccinated and operated upon, it is hoped that a sort of “buffer zone” can be established around the district to prevent the entry of the virus.

Mrs. Otter also said that there needed to be a concerted effort to ensure that the virus does not once again make its way into the local stray dog population.

She said that a variety of causes, including the availability of edible waste for dogs has ensured that there is a degree of “survivability” for the animals. She added that to completely tackle rabies, and also to keep the number of stray dogs in check, a holistic approach towards waste management, combined with sterilisation and vaccination procedures have to be carried out over a sustained period of time.

The district administration is also not footing any of the costs for the programme and the WVS hopes that there can be more involvement from the Coonoor and Udhagamandalam municipalities in the future.

Training

More than 1,500 veterinarians from across India, parts of Bangladesh and Nepal have received training at the WVS facility. The training programmes are a “refresher course in surgery, mostly based around the sterilisation of male and female dogs, though the techniques can be applied for other procedures as well,” Mrs. Otter explained.

Licensed trained vets are in high demand across India due to municipalities and corporations requiring their assistance in carrying out and implementing ABC programmes.