UN has a Goal of making the world canine rabies free by 2030. And the only way to do this is by getting all the dogs of the world vaccinated with rabies vaccine.
India has a huge population of stray dogs who are mostly Indian breed. People of India unfortunately are misinformed about rabies and believe that every stray dog is rabid. Any bite or even a touch from a stray dog may infect them and their children with rabies. Hence, people often kill and poison dogs who bite or have bitten them. Majority of the people are unaware about the fact that even healthy and physically fit dog may bite due to other reasons and not because they are rabid.
In India it is the municipal corporation who has been entrusted to sterilize and vaccinate the dogs against rabies with the help of NGOs. In Delhi there are only around 7 to 8 sterilization centers which run the ABC ( Animal Birth Control) program. Hence, the centres often find themselves overburdened and understaffed.
On top of it there is hardly any awareness about the ABC program amongst the masses. The program is being done in the most unsystematic and random manner which lacks people's participation. So with this kind of scenario the goal of making India canine rabies free by 2030 seems next to impossible.
Thankfully there are people in India who have started taking steps in accomplishing this goal.
Gaurav Dar from Nishabd, an animal welfare NGO which runs a dog shelter in Dadri, Uttar Pradesh has taken up this wonderful initiative of making Delhi canine Rabies free. To know more about Nishabd and their wonderful work kindly go on the link below:
Nishabd has recently joined hands with CGS Veterinary Hospital in Gurgaon which provides medical aid to dogs and cats. The hospital has been in existence for quite sometime now and in year 2019 they opened a new wing called Pasha which caters to sick and injured stray dogs and cats. Under Pasha they have started another initiative of making Delhi NCR canine rabies free. To know more about Pasha Wing kindly go on the link below:
https://www.cgshospital.com/cgs-pasha-wing
Their mission is not only to make all stray dogs of Delhi NCR canine rabies free but also to make them free from diseases like parvo and distemper. Most of the stray puppies in India die due to distemper and Parvo. Hence, vaccinating them with 7 in 1 vaccine protects them from such fatal diseases.
CGS hospital has been organizing rabies and 7 in 1 vaccination drives at the end of every month in Delhi NCR. Till now it has covered various parts in Gurgaon, Noida and Delhi (Pic in the post).
Gaurav from Nishabd collaborated with them and has successfully organized one drive in Noida and and three drives in Delhi.
In Delhi his first vaccination drive was in Vasundhara Enclave a residential colony in East Delhi. Second was a vaccination drive in campus colleges of Delhi University. This he could do by further collaborating with students of Desi club. The students of Desi club got the dogs of their respective colleges vaccinated by physically being present and identifying and catching the dogs and getting them vaccinated. These compassionate students are caregivers of the dogs residing in and around their college campuses. To know more about the vaccination drive kindly go on the link below:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CVQZG9fDnMc/?utm_medium=copy_link
The third drive took place on 30th October 2021 in two residential colonies of East Delhi: Mayur Vihar and Vinod Nagar. These are colonies where people from.both middle income and low income group reside.
The CGS hospital sent its ambulance with a vet and a paravet to these two colonies. And with the help of the colony caregivers the vaccination drive was accomplished. The vet and his team started the vaccination drive at around 2: 30 PM and by 7:30 PM they succeeded in getting 50 dogs vaccinated. They could not have achieved such a large number in just 4 hours time without the help.of the caregivers. The caregivers on the other hand could have never got their dogs vaccinated had the doctor and his team not reached their homes. So the benefit was mutual.
A 70 + year old caregiver Madhu (M-9958499965) from Mayur Vihar takes care of three stray dogs. But due to old age and immobility she was not able to get the dogs vaccinated. All she needed was a vet who could visit her home and vaccinate her three furry kids. She was so grateful to Gaurav and the vet for getting her kids vaccinated. She literally had tears of joy in her eyes.
Hema (M- +919818997626) another caregiver from Vinod Nagar was just jumping with joy when 5 of her furry friends got their rabies shot done. One of them had recently bit her own son. But that did not bring any kind of hostility in the heart of Hema towards the dog as she had the awareness that the dog was not rabid and it was due to some other reason that he bit her son. But the neighbors as usual labeled the dog rabid and were up in arms against Hema for feeding the dog and taking care of him. Vaccination of the dog brought back the cheer and happiness on Hema's face. She was now relaxed that in future if the dog ever bites she can show the vaccination certificate and tell people that the dog is not rabid and it is sheer provocation which leads him to bite. So.please behave properly with him.
Sanju (M- 8076960834) another caregiver from Vinod Nagar used to run school van by picking up students and dropping them to school. But due to covid pandemic the schools were all closed. They have been closed for almost two years now. Sanju could barely sustain his family. On top of it he had a pet dog. A pomrarianian. He could not afford her yearly vaccination. Yesterday when the CGS vet was vaccinating the stray dogs of the area Sanju requested the vet to vaccinate his pet dog too. He loves his dog but due to lack of money was unable to get her vaccinated. The vet was kindhearted and was empathetic towards both the owner and his pet. So he vaccinated the pet. Sonu was full of gratitude towards the vet and the hospital which was vaccinating the dogs free of cost.
This is indeed a great service being done by the CGS hospital and its veterinarians towards the Indian dogs who are unfortunately stray and their caregivers who are often harassed, abused and insulted for no fault of theirs. And organizations like Nishabd and Gaurav who took that extra effort to come out of their comfort zone and collaborated with CGS and brought the hospital and its veterinarians to the streets of Delhi where the Indian dog resides.
Well the East Delhi Municipal Corporation recently came up with a proposal of online pet registeration for a stipulated fee and failure of registeration leading to penalty.
Just imagine if this gets implemented. What will pet owners like Sonu do???? They will have no other choice but to abandon their pets.
India can defitinetly reach the goal of canine rabies free much before 2030 but only if right measures are taken and that too in right direction. Unfortunately at the govt level neither right measures are being taken nor they are being taken in right direction.
Wonder when will the corporations and their veterinarians reach out to the masses.........because without reaching out to the masses and without people's participation making India canine rabies free seems next to impossible.....