NAGPUR Municipal Corporation (NMC) and Mission Rabies organisation have joined hands to eradicate rabies by 2030 and for the same they have embarked on drive to vaccinate the stray dogs. In the first move, about 20,000 of the 90,000 canines on street are being targeted for vaccination to eliminate threat of rabies in case of any accidental bite to citizens.

 

The current drive is a 28-day dog vaccination programme that started from Sunday under the banner of ‘Rabies Free Nagpur’ by vaccinating a stray dog puppy at the hands of Dr Shirish Upadhye, Dean, Maharashtra Animal and Fishery Sciences University (MAFSU), in presence of Dr Gajendra Mahalle, Deputy Municipal Commissioner, Solid Waste Management (Cleanliness and Garbage Collection); Dr Shashikant Jadhav, Director, Special Operations, Mission Rabies; and Dr Rahul Bombatkar, Chairman, Nirmiti Peoples and Animal Welfare Society. The office-bearers would deploy specially trained teams to catch stray dogs with the help of NMC teams and vaccinate them for first 15 days andafter that the vaccination teamswill put-up camps in designated wards and vaccinate thedogs brought to them by animal lovers and other citizensthrough static vaccinationdrive, said Dr Shashikant Jadhav. Nirmiti Peoples and Animal Welfare Society Nagpur, a philanthropic organisation, is leading the on-ground campaign in the city. Students studyingVeterinary Science and animal lovers will participate in this activity.

 

WVS India, Mission Rabies and HOPE organisations have mobilised special teams to catch dogs for vaccinations. In order to control the spread of rabies, the focus is on areas where the number of dogs are high. Accordingly vaccination will be done in Ward No 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 35, 36, 37 and 38. Further, vaccination will be done inWard No 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32 and 34. The NGO has identified the wards based on data shared by civic administration. In future if need arise the drive can be taken-up further to cover additional stray dog population. Rabies is completely preventable disease, yet it kills people and animals. Our goal is to eliminate this menace by 2030 and our ongoing vaccination campaigns are critical to achieving this goal,” said Dr Jadhav.