The Country Going To Dogs

2.5 Million Dogs in Sri Lanka

(January 22, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) According to newspaper reports, there are around 2.5 million dogs in Sri Lanka, and the number of dog bite cases reported annually is around 730,000. In 2006, the deaths due to rabies was 73, an increase from 55 in the previous year. The Ministry of Health spends around Rs 500 million a year to treat those bitten by dogs, In 2008 Rs 600 million has been allocated. The Ministry has started a sterilizing and vaccinating programme to control the dog population.

The Minister of Health, according to news paper reports, has instructed the relevant organizations to give priority to sterilize. The sterilizing and vaccinating may be effective in the case of domestic (pet) dogs but it is not practical to control the stray dogs by these methods. Humane rabies control means catching stray dogs, vaccinating them against rabies and releasing them. This is not practicable. Even if a dog is sterilized or vaccinated the person who gets bitten by a dog has to get rabies injection. The agony of those who get bitten by dogs and have to get the anti-rabies injection can be best described only by those who have undergone such a catastrophe. The number of man-days lost and the effect on the economy as a result is phenomenal. Various organizations such as The Kandy Association for Community Protection through Animal Welfare (KACPAW) are keen to control the spread of rabies, but are adamant that stray dogs are not destroyed although at the same time nearly 300, 000 cattle and a few million of birds (poultry ) are killed annually. No organization including the Jathika Hela Urumaya, has taken any action to prevent this slaughter.

The most effective way of controlling the stray dog population is to catch them and put them in fenced dog "ponds" or dog "parks" There can be such dog parks in each district and the members of organizations such as KACPAW can have a programme to feed these dogs. In this way the dog bites and the economic loss can be minimized. Is is more human than sterilizing dogs. After all, it is a basic animal right to propagate its species.

A few months ago some news papers carried reports of a WHO project to control stray dogs. The project is a few million dollars worth, and is implemented by a person who was a planter. May be the WHO can tell the people the present situation of this project.