Civic body begins mass anti-rabies vaccination drive for stray dogs

Bhubaneswar: The civic body’s mass anti-rabies vaccination drive kicked off on Monday, with an aim to vaccinate 40,000 stray dogs in three months. Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) mayor Sulochana Das flagged off the special drive.

As many as 15 teams have taken up on-site vaccination, each given a target to vaccinate 50 dogs in a day. Each team has a para-vet, a driver-cum attendant and four persons.

In Jan, BMC had signed a tripartite agreement with the College of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry of Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT), Worldwide Veterinary Service, and Mission Rabies India for vaccination of nearly 40,000 stray dogs on mission mode.

“The dogs are being vaccinated in the areas where they usually roam. They will not be relocated to other places. We prefer to carry out the drive in the morning. This initiative aims to achieve a rabies-free city through mass anti-rabies vaccination of stray dogs, strengthening public health and animal welfare across Bhubaneswar,” the mayor said.

BMC sources said each vaccinated dog will be tagged using a non-toxic biological marker so that they are easily recognisable when they mingle with other dogs. The tagging will help check repetitive vaccination. “The exercise will complete in 90 days and thereafter random sero-surveillance will be taken up to check antibody in the vaccinated dogs,” a BMC officer said.

BMC said the vaccination drive will also cover at least 5,000 more stray dogs which were born after the dog census that took place last Oct. The additional dogs are puppies delivered in Nov and Dec that have now crossed three months of age, making them eligible for vaccination, and were not included in the census count of 47,000. “Out of the total dog population of 52,000 (including the puppies), 40,000 are targeted to be vaccinated because the global standard is 70-75% of the total population can be caught and vaccinated,” Dr Debi Prasad Kund, who handles the BMC’s animal birth control (ABC) programme, said.

In the past eight years, around 5,000 dogs were vaccinated in the city, largely those that underwent sterilisation under the ABC programme before and received anti-rabies shots during quarantine at kennels. No separate citywide vaccination drive for stray dogs was conducted until now.