Bali Governor I Made Mangku Pastika, my name is Mark Jones, I am a veterinarian from the United Kingdom, and I am the animal welfare director for Animals Asia Foundation, a Hong Kong-based NGO dedicated to improving the lives and welfare of animals Asia-wide.

Once again, we were very disturbed to hear of the ongoing efforts to control rabies in Bali by the mass slaughter of street dogs using strychnine (see "Calls to cull stray dogs mount", (The Jakarta Post, Feb. 19), in spite of overwhelming evidence for the lack of efficacy of this kind of approach from the World Health Organisation and other international human and animal health bodies.

I refer you to letters I have written on Dec. 4, 2008, and on Jan. 7, 2009, to the Consul General of Indonesia here in Hong Kong (both attached), expressing our concern and explaining the WHO position.

On behalf of Animals Asia Foundation, and in concert with the opinion of many other Indonesian and international groups concerned with human and animal health and welfare, I once again urge you to reconsider your approach to this issue.

A widespread, carefully planned and executed dog vaccination program, using WHO approved rabies vaccines, would be a far more effective method of reducing the risk of rabies to the general human population. The long-term adoption of a coordinated "trap-neuter-vaccination-release" program for stray dogs will provide population stability, whilst keeping alien, potentially infected dogs out of populated areas.

These measures will provide greater safety in the short and long term for your citizens, whilst removing the need for the indiscriminate and inhumane slaughter of hundreds or thousands of healthy dogs. As in my previous letters, I refer you to the following documents for expert guidance:

Mark Jones

Hong Kong

Popular

Retail sales, consumer confidence ease as Idul Fitri boost dissipates

Students to rally against Prabowo amid economic pressures

State budget injection into Danantara could raise fiscal risks