Bangladeshi Anti Rabies Drive Means Vaccinating Stray Dogs

Fri, 30 Sep 2011

Bangladesh has developed a considered approach to its stray dog population.

It intends to vaccinate its stray dogs instead of putting them down in a bid to prevent rabies .

Annually rabies kills approximately 2,000 people in Bangladesh.

The World Health Organisation has recently stated that 1.4 billion plus people in Southeast Asia are at high risk of rabies due to humans and dogs living in crowded conditions.

Thankfully the Bangladeshi government has combined forces with a global group, the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA), to commence with the vaccination programme in an area called Cox's Bazaar.

The Health Ministry confirmed that "we want to eliminate rabies but without the need to cull dogs."

The WSPA stated that many thousands of dogs would thereby be saved in the first year alone.

The Cox's Bazaar is the area which has witnessed the launch of the vaccination programme, setting the pace for a nationwide campaign.

Cox's Bazar is a southern beach resort, a tourist destination where many tourists regularly get bitten by stray dogs. Authorities have recorded around 300,000 annual dog bites in Bangladesh.

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