Bali focuses on vaccines, not mass canine culling

The Bali Animal Husbandry Agency says putting down stray dogs was no longer a priority in fighting the spread of rabies as it was focused on mass vaccination drives to inoculate all dogs on the island.

More than two years after the first case of rabies emerged in Bali and nine months after the new agency head took office, the agency has set a target to vaccinate 70 percent of the island’s 500,000 dogs by the end of the year.

“We will vaccinate all stray dogs. We are confident that we will be able to vaccinate 400,000 dogs by the end of the year,” agency head Putu Sumantra said.

Previously, villagers in some regencies were allowed to put down stray dogs in their areas to curb the infection, with around 100,000 dogs culled by villagers and local agency officials.

A study found that 495 of 3,132 samples taken from the dog population tested positive for rabies.

To ensure the target is achieved, the agency is working with the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) through its local partner, the Bali Animal Welfare Association (BAWA), to set up teams to catch stray dogs to be vaccinated and to monitor the number of immunized dogs.

“We currently have 17 teams in several regencies. They will work to ensure that all dogs are vaccinated,” Sumantra added.

The provincial health agency reported that 80 people had died of the infection since the outbreak began. Denpasar’s Sanglah Hospital has treated 98 patients suspected of contracting the disease.

Despite the agency’s claims that they still had 11,000 vials of anti-rabies vaccines distributed to hospitals in all regencies, patients from outside Denpasar keep coming to Sanglah to be vaccinated.

On Tuesday, BAWA, together with the WSPA and the husbandry agency, marked World Rabies Day at an event at state vocational school SMKN 1 Manggis in Padangbai, Karangasem regency.

The event included a free vaccinations and seminars on rabies awareness and bite prevention.

BAWA founder Janice Girardi said the group celebrated recent achievements in rabies prevention and control and cast its vision to eradicate rabies from Bali by 2012.

“Although we have already completed vaccinations in two of Bali’s regencies in eight months, now is when the real on-the-ground work can start in earnest. Rabies is the most deadly disease known to humans and here in Bali we are fighting it with an army of highly-trained vaccination teams,” Girardi said.

This year, BAWA said, it had completed vaccinations in more than 850 banjars (traditional hamlets) throughout Gianyar and Bangli regencies.

Girardi said they would continue to campaign against culling stray dogs.

“We have advocated against this approach not only because it is inhumane but also because it has globally been proven to be ineffective,” she said