Spare dogs that have been vaccinated

I refer to the report “Ringing the rabies alarm to prevent further deaths” ( The Star, Aug 25). It is extremely sad that Sarawak is not free from rabies yet. Twelve victims have died since the rabies outbreak began in Sarawak last June.

It is also heart-wrenching, especially for dog lovers and the local S.O.S (Save Our Strays) volunteers, to learn that the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee has decided on Aug 24 that a rabies eradication strategy will be further strengthened on licensed and unlicensed collared dogs from Sept 1 to 30.

Any claims on such dogs will not be entertained to control the spread of rabies. This has put all the vaccinated stray dogs under Trap-Neuter-Vaccinate-Return (TNVR) programmes supported by the local volunteers’ efforts at risk of being culled.

Vaccinating community dogs against rabies and reducing their numbers through spaying and neutering has been proven as an excellent immune response and can limit human exposure to rabies.

It is undeniable that the presence of stray dogs leads to many problems. However, the authorities and the public need to fully understand the reason why stray dogs exist and have stringent preventive measures, or else the problem will remain.

Stricter regulations on dog licensing, vaccination, animal welfare and animal abusers should be reviewed and enacted as soon as possible. Stray dogs are almost always former pets that have been abandoned by their owners. Without a stringent legislative measure for responsible dog ownership, people will not take the precaution to vaccinate their pets and will abandon their pets.

In Sarawak, pet dogs simply wander off an owner’s property especially in rural areas and also in town residential areas. Pet owners should provide clean and healthy environments to their dogs and all the pet dogs should be taken out on a leash and not be left free-roaming.

It is also undeniable that the sterilisation of stray dogs (in public areas) and at shelters in Sarawak for the past years has been done by local NGOs without a concrete, long term and large-scale support by the state government.

The Sarawak government should work closely with local NGOs to take these efforts further and to discuss with animal welfare groups about enhancing the success of these localised efforts.

Another important factor is to raise awareness about responsible pet ownership and to get people to spay and neuter their dogs. Campaigns should be launched to promote an “Adopt, don’t buy” approach.

Prevention of human deaths from canine rabies has been proven to be achievable by integrating effective strategies of mass dog vaccination. The Sarawak government’s effort to fully support free vaccination programmes for dogs to curb the rabies outbreak is truly commendable.

However, the government needs to consider not capturing the community dogs that have undergone the TNVR programme as these dogs can act as deterrents to unvaccinated dogs from entering their territory. If a rabid dog comes to an area where all the dogs are vaccinated, then the virus will not be able to spread because the vaccinated dogs will be immune.

Stray dogs deserve to live with more compassion and in a humane manner. Innocent stray dogs should not suffer under barbaric methods.

JY LOU Kuching