Veterinarians want to track dogs to stop rabies in Bali

The Bali Veterinarians Association says it will implement a registration system to track the isle’s dog population to stop the spread of rabies.

The association’s new chairman, I Gusti Ngurah Mahardika, said on Thursday that dog owners would have to register their pets with veterinarians under the system.

“[Residents] would continuously report canine births, deaths and migration so that we always have updated data on the canine population,” Mahardika said at a rabies mitigation seminar.

“Almost every village in Bali has a veterinarian. There are 570 veterinarians throughout Bali that we might empower under this program.”

Veterinarians would forward their reports to the association, which would in turn forward information to related government agencies such as the local Husbandry and Health Agencies.

Mahardika said village veterinarians would actively monitor local canine populations under the program so that all dogs were registered, including unreported and feral dogs.

“We will also ask village administrations to call on dog owners to register their dogs with their local veterinarians,” he added.

The association plans to launch a pilot program in one village in Bangli and two villages in Jimbaran by year end.

Mahardika said the current system used to manage rabies was not effective and posed a risk for future outbreak.

“If we don’t improve the current system, I’m afraid rabies will remain an endemic disease in Bali for a long time because we still face risks. Dogs are wandering everywhere and people have not improved their way of keeping dogs.”

He said that public education was the most important measure to curb the disease and was upbeat that the registration system would work.