By Varda Mehrotra (Executive Director, FIAPO)

As we come closer to World Rabies Day on 28^TH of September, here’s what was happening in a city in India. A child of 7—Manish, was passing by an area one morning, where illegal meat-shops had thrown fresh chickens body parts onto the street, the smell of which caught the attention of hungry street dogs looking for food. Accidentally caught up in a frenzied dog-fight over the scraps of food, Manish – who should have been at school but was not – was bitten by the dogs whose only interest was the food and nothing else. It turned out that Manish’s parents had no money to pay for the treatment, and local hospitals were notorious for running out of the precious anti-rabies vaccine, and neither were their nurses up-to-date with the correct WHO protocol, nor the vaccination schedule. Meanwhile, angry  residents went and brutally and illegally killed all the dogs they could find, who had uptill then, protected the community they were born in and called it their home too. 1 week later, new dogs attracted by the food moved into the neighbourhood, and the ghastly cycle began again.

This is a tragic story, with both human and animal victims, and one that plays out across the country.

So whose fault is it really- the dogs that were looking for scraps of food, the illegal meat shops for throwing chicken parts on the street, or the local hospitals for not having the vaccines?

There is no single answer, because the issue is complex. And a belief that a single solution like killing the dogs, or removing them is an unrealistic over-simplification. People have tried relocating dogs, or putting them in shelters, and even killing them – and it hasn’t, and wont ever work. The problem of rabies and conflict still prevails, affecting human and animal victims.

Called upon to respond to many such dog-conflict cases across the country, FIAPO advocates for and runs a multi-pronged approach to tackle this issue, because one-track thinking will never work. We are implementing this in high-conflict areas of Kerala, UP and Punjab, and the initial results are extremely encouraging.

There are 5 components to this:

1. A State-wide and state-led ABC for dogs:

ABC (Animal Birth Control) is a well-researched program and has been documented as a successful way to humanely reduce dog populations through mass sterilization of street dogs; but this must be led by state govt at scale for this to be successful.

2. Dedicated ARV for dogs:

ARV is currently administered to dogs when they are sterilized. However, this means that the rate is slow, and that in areas where there is no ABC, there is also no ARV- which is a major problem. FIAPO advocates for dedicated ARV- Mission Rabies has been working in Goa for dedicated ARV and other cities like Trivandrum and Chandigarh are beginning to invest in dedicated ARV programmes.

3. Education for children and adults:

It is a matter of great concern that even though there are an estimated 25 million dogs in the country, there is no education made available to people on how to interact with them! Most dog-bites are preventable and it’s important that children learn how to behave and interact with dogs. Children also need the vital information on how to protect themselves in case they do come across a rabid dog.

4. Counselling for dog-bite patients

There is a need for patients who have been bitten by dogs to be given adequate information and support in relation to post-bite care and rabies prevention. We have found this process crucial for ensuring that dog-bite patients and the communities they live in, are equipped with information to ensure safety of people and dogs.

5. Community engagement

Humans and animals live together in cities and villages across the country. It is thus crucial that we engage with communities to help create relationships that are positive between people and animals.

FIAPO has been resolving human-dog conflict using this comprehensive approach – whether for emergency response when dog-bite cases suddenly rise, or for long-term preventive action. However, there have been some challenges in the process as well, such as:

       A. Firstly, To address scale, we need Government backing.

The scale of the problem of sterlisation, vaccination, education, counselling and community engagement with 25 million dogs and 1 billion people in India is so big that without the backing of the Government at the state and center, human-dog conflict is not going to go away. We need the state governments to run stated-wide ABC programmes, NRCP to include ARV for dogs and human dog-bite victim counselling in hospitals, and we need community engagement and child education through existing schemes like Asha and Anganwadis.

      B. Secondly, Civil Society needs to collaborate.

There are many organisations doing an incredible job of some of the components individually. But they are disjointed. Better collaboration and cooperation to achieve the whole programme amongst civil society and other agencies is needed. This enables organisations running anti rabies programmes to focus on ARV, and organisations running education programmes to focus on that – and for them to cooperate. Instead of replicating, we need to synergise.

      C. Thirdly, increased media responsibility

The media plays a key role in any society, and print media continues to be one of the major routes for news especially in rural areas where most dog-bites occur. Media has the important responsibility of ensuring that important and key information about disease control is publicized. Yet unfortunately, many outlets revert to sensationalizing the issue and misinforming the public leading to poor health care, illegal actions against dogs that potentially risk the lives of humans and dogs alike.

       D. Finally, Rabies control by making rabies a notifiable disease.

Rabies is fatal. So rabies control is literally a matter of life and death. If there is a rabies outbreak, it is critical to ensure that all animals and humans who are at risk are identified and vaccinated. Post-bite support must be available and vaccines must be ensured. Such swift response is only possible if rabies is made a notifiable disease.

It is important to understand and accept the fact that our cities and urban spaces today are home to residents that are human and non-human as well. If we want to see an end to rabies, we have to accept the social complications and contexts it comes with and include that in any and all approaches we use.

Each one of us has the power to bring about a positive change- by supporting NGOs and agencies that are running ABC, ARV, education, community engagement programmes- since they are basically doing the work that the Government should be doing in the first place, minus the resources. A financial boost is vital to run the necessary programmes at scale.

Get political – encourage local authorities and governments to back state-led ABC and ARV.

Get scientific – oppose the illogical and inhumane dog killing and dog removal, and help policy makers and communities make the right choices for dogs and people.