Vet suggests bringing in UN expert to help fight rabies in Sarawak

KUCHING: The Sarawak government has been urged to seek help from Dr Eric Brum, the chief technical advisor at Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD) of Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO).

This was suggested by Dr Natasha Lee, board member of Society for Prevention of Cruelty Against Animal (SPCA) Selangor yesterday.

“I can recommend someone from FAO to come there and discuss strategy, his name is Eric Brum. He is based in Bangladesh and is involved in rabies control in Bali,” she told the press when asked to comment on the latest increase of rabies infected areas yesterday.

From online sources, Dr Brum is the chief technical advisor for FAO’s Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD) and the current team leader for ECTAD’s Bangladesh programme.

Dr Brum’s involvement in rabies control in Indonesia started after the fi rst cases of rabies in Bali were reported in 2008. Back then, the FAO established a technical assistance project with the Indonesian government to support efforts to control the disease in Bali.

During this period, sources estimate that around 2,000 stray dogs were put to sleep.

Dr Teo acknowledged that the very notion of culling an animal is an abhorrent thought but emphasised that the urgency of the rabies situation in the state meant that both authorities and the public have to swallow the bitter pill and take a more aggressive approach in dealing with the outbreak.

“It may sound harsh to the ears but this approach is not a senseless killing of our strays, rather it is a way for us to protect our healthy uninfected dog population and safeguard the safety of our citizens.

“There are of course people who will disagree like they did in Penang but these people must understand that we are near the end of our rope now and have to now act decisively.

“12 people have already died, we cannot allow this to continue,” he stressed.

“We have already tried the mass-vaccination approach alone and while it has no doubt helped curb the spread of the infection to some degree, it has not been able stop the spread of the virus to other divisions in Sarawak,” Dr Teo said.