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 |

Dr S.D. Eleperuma
|
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. |