Stray dog menace:

Blue Paw Trust supports CMC to contain rabies

by: Omar RAJARATHNAM

A stray dog Being lifted for inspection... Digging into a garbage dump

Twenty-two year old Lapitha walks home after work everyday at around 9 pm through the Gangarama Temple in Colombo-2. There's no problem in walking here during broad daylight but at night it turns into a dogs haven, said Lapitha. "I take this route regularly at night and the dogs don't spare me. They bark ferociously and chase me until the end of the road. It is annoying and I fear being bitten by one of them. There is no other option but to walk along the street hoping that they don't bite me. I don't want to be infected with rabies", said Lapitha.

The fear is reasonable, no one would like to contract rabies from stray dogs who just stray. Not only around Gangarama temple, but areas around the Wellawatte canal, the road along the canal in Rajagiriya, surrounding areas of Hulftsdorp and areas around meat stalls are infested with dogs. They are a nuisance to customers, complained a meat stall owner from Thotalanga. "They inconvenience passers-by and we don't see the C.M.C van that catches stray dogs anymore. We fear being contracted with rabies from them", he said. It is still unclear of how to identify a dog infected with rabies.

Not all dogs that bite have rabies but you must seek immediate medical attention after a dog bite clarifies Chief Municipal Veterinary Surgeon of the C.M.C. Dr. S.D. Eleperuma. Traditionally dog vans were deployed to remove stray dogs to be taken and put to 'sleep'. This practice was discontinued in 2006 on a presidential order. We still have these vans and facilities but we have changed our approach. We sterilise and vaccinate dogs instead of putting them to 'sleep'.

Question: What is a stray dog and about how many stray dogs does the Colombo city have?

A: The Rabies Ordinance of 1896 and the Dog Registration Ordinance of 1908 defines a stray dog as 'Any dog that is not controlled or led by a keeper'. This could arguably include pet owners who cause inconvenience by not taking care of the animal. A census conducted in mid 2007 by the Blue Paw Trust headed by Dr. Nalinika Obeysekera recorded that the number of free roaming dogs without an owner in Colombo was 4,500.

Q: How have you ensured that they do not carry rabies?

A: Our sterilisation and vaccination process begins from Colombo North which includes Matakkuliya, Modera, Samithpura and Bloemendhal Road which we regard as home to a large portion of stray dogs in the city, owing to the two main garbage dumps in Bloemendal and Madampitiya. We conclude our operation at Roxy gardens in Wellawatte. We catch these dogs with a net and then take them to a central location where all of them are vaccinated against rabies and the female dogs are left to be sterilised. The latter takes about 4-5 hours because they are kept under observation after sterilisation. The Blue Paw Trust also vaccinates dogs in the periphery so, we have a robust rabies prevention scheme. Out of the 47 wards that belong to the C.M.C, 80 percent of dogs have been sterilised, which is why one does not find many stray puppies these days and 70 percent of dogs have been vaccinated against rabies in 40 wards. This is a remarkable progress. The Blue Paw Trust is currently undertaking another census to determine the progress of its initiatives.

Q: What prevents you from vaccinating the remaining 30 percent?

A: The complications in monitoring, some dogs that move away from an area before their next vaccination and the ones taken into care by private owners are unaccounted for. But by global standards, our control percentages are impressive. The number of confirmed rabies cases by the Medical Research Institute in 2009 was 25, but it reduced significantly to 10 cases at the end of 2010, further no hydrophobia (the condition of rabies in the human body) related fatalities were reported in the Colombo city for the last four years. We hope to achieve a rabies free Colombo city by 2014, which is two years prior to the Government's vision to have a rabies free country.

Q: There are many dogs around Independence Square, Reid avenue, Vihara Maha Devi Park and certain sections of the Galle road, How can you ensure that they do not become a public nuisance?

A: The public can ensure they do not become a nuisance. There are so many joggers around these areas who carry food for these dogs in their vehicles. They lay the food for the dogs before they begin exercising and leave without even cleaning the place. This kind of practice is very unfavourable when controlling dogs.

Even feeding them has to be done in a disciplined manner, if we train them to eat from every nook and corner, they feel comfortable in all these areas and eventually become territorial. Vihara Maha Devi Park has about 22 dogs, these dogs are fed by those who visit the park at various times of the day, so they are stationed there during the day and night. This causes them to act aggressively against any strangers.

I earnestly request people feeding these dogs to remember that haphazard feeding practices encourage dogs to be unreasonably territorial and make themselves a nuisance. We have also introduced an initiative called Dog Managed Zones.

We selected the Castle Street Maternity Hospital, the Lady Ridgeway Children's Hospital and Taj Samudra Hotel where dogs are only fed in designated feeding areas and hospital officials claim that the dogs are behaving well after we implemented the project.

Q: The National Hospital premises is a well-known spot where aggressive stray dogs are found, has the hospital administration asked you to get involved with controlling the menace?

A: We have approached them to allow our staff to sterilise and vaccinate the 70 dogs in the premises, but they are not willing to co-operate.

We are available to carry out the operations as soon as they give us the green light. We have to apply the Dog Managed Zones concept to control the stray dogs issue there as well.

Q: What about dogs that are reared as pets, do you vaccinate those dogs too?

A: No. We encourage responsible pet ownership, hence we cannot invade a property and vaccinate dogs who have owners, but we have a vaccination clinic at 23, Magazine Road, Borella where free vaccinations are given to dogs under private care. It is open every Thursday from 9 am to 12 pm.

We also send our veterinary supervisors to every household annually, so I request that you allow them to vaccinate your dogs and sterilise them.

Q: What is the biggest misconception about rabies and how do we treat someone who suffers from a dog bite?

A: Rabies is only spread by dogs and symptoms will appear within five to six days. Any warm blooded animal can carry the virus and the incubation period can take up to three years.

If a dog bites you, hold your wound under running water for about 10 minutes and use an anti-bacterial soap to wash off the wound. Seek immediate medical care.

No other treatment works. The more you delay medical attention, the higher the risk of losing your life. The virus paralyses your facial muscles and disables your ability to swallow.

We have come a long way in controlling the virus so far. The Blue Paw Trust has been instrumental in supporting the C.M.C to control rabies in Colombo.

I request pet owners to co-operate with us to ensure we eradicate rabies from the country and to make use of our free vaccination services if they are unable to afford them.