One of my favourite trees here. Like a giant thuja from our school gardens... In fact this is called the Thuja tree. Its a kind of Cedar.
So we persuaded the local kuda collection gadi to give us wet waste from hotels to make compost with.
Urban Areas have to change the game for Rural Areas, besides changing it for themselves.
One of my favourite trees here. Like a giant thuja from our school gardens... In fact this is called the Thuja tree. Its a kind of Cedar.
So we persuaded the local kuda collection gadi to give us wet waste from hotels to make compost with.
A study in 2010 in Ahmedabad found that the highest concentration of dogs was near garbage disposal areas, lower and middle income group housing societies, and areas where there were deliberate human feeders.
The density of dogs per km. across different wards, varied from 14 to 57.
Towards the end of the count (September- October) a high incidence of mating behavior was identified across Ahmedabad.
In 10 years of Animal Birth Control in Ahmedabad, less than 15 % of the dog population could be sterilized.
The number of dog bites peaks in winter and drops lower during summer. Winter is when the dogs are breeding.
A concerted effort was made to sterilize a large number of dogs in 2006. It had the effect of reducing dog bites in Ahmedabad by 8.5%.
Lots of pet dogs were also noticed during the survey. A high percentage of these “owned” animals were found roaming on the streets and were not sterilized.
A 2005 study showed the highest death rates due to rabies in Uttarakhand and Chattisgarh (over 3.5+ per lakh population). That would be about 400 people dying a year due to rabies in Uttarakhand.
But data on rabies cases submitted by the state government to the Centre stated that three people died due to rabies in 2015. However, experts have raised doubts over the authenticity of the claim.
“According to the
Central Bureau of Health Intelligence, Uttarakhand recorded around 231 rabies
cases in 2015 so is next to impossible that mortality rate was zero due to
rabies when fatality rate is almost 100%.” said Dr Seema Kumari from Haridwar.
Dr L M Upreti, director (medical health), health department said, “We don't even get reports from government hospitals (on rabies cases), forget private ones.”
The State Government's report said that instances of animal bites have increased at an
alarming rate in the hill state posing a threat to residents.
A study in a single hospital at Srinagar, Uttarakhand concluded that animal bite cases are rising over the years, and dog bites are most common animal bite cases in Pauri Garhwal Uttrakhand. Mainly males are affected at 82% of all bite cases. Most of the animal bite affected cases (45%) were of age 15-44 years.
Mostly bite cases receive 3 doses of vaccination (while 4 are reccommended by WHO). There is no mention in the study of immunoglobulin being given which would be needed if the wound drew blood.
Dehradun residents organize to minimize nuisance from stray dogs
Accordingto a survey conducted by civic body in October 2016, Dehradun alone had 24,500
stray dogs of which 9,000 had been sterilised by 2017.
Life had been difficult for many middle class residents of Dehradun because of many strays on the streets. a group of eminent persons have started a social media campaign on WhatsApp appealing residents to stop feeding dogs since it prompts canines to attack commuters on the streets. Coming out strongly against dog lovers who feed strays, members of the group also said that those wanting to give food should do in their homes and not endanger the lives of others.
Soumya Prasad, a group member and professor at the JawaharLal Nehru University in Delhi, said, “Stray dogs are territorial animals. They occupy the areas where they find food. With people feeding them, the canines tend to attack commuters. The elderly, children and women are more vulnerable.
Saying that compassion for strays should not hold a society to ransom, Prasad said, “People feeding strays should take complete responsibility of their action and compassion should not end in harm of other people. They should either adopt the dogs or local authorities should make them liable to bear medical expenses of affected persons.”
Chief Justice G Rohini, during a plea filed last year by Om Prakash Saini, a resident of Malviya Nagar in the city, said “It was rather strange that people feed stray dogs and allow them in public spaces, causing nuisance and inconvenience to others. If you have a pet and you are feeding it, it is ok. But if you feeding stray dogs and they are causing inconvenience to others, it is not good.”
The poor state of india's government run health services for people is our daily experience. Even as they do a great service for all in need, especially the poor, they are plauged with lack of infrastructure and staff. Witness this news where several district level government hospitals in uttarakhand now dont even admit people in the summer as they do not have enough water supply !
April 2022 news : Every day, the district hospital in Champawat needs at least 67,500 litres of water to function. But as water becomes increasingly scarce across the north Indian state of Uttarakhand, the hospital in the Kumaon Himalayas is routinely left without the quantity of water it needs to safely provide healthcare for the local community.
“In peak summers, our villagers are refused admission as there is no water at the hospitals,” said Bhuwan Singh, the head of Ruiyan, a small Himalayan village in Champawat district. He said that during the peak summer months, three or four people out of Ruiyan’s population of 330 adults are refused entry to hospital. “Every year [during the summer], it gets really difficult to receive treatment at any of the nearby government health centres or even the district hospital,” he said.
More than 300,000 people in Champawat district rely on the hospital; its average daily footfall is 250-300 people.
Parmanand Punetha, an engineer at the Uttarakhand water department, said: “Water reservoirs are drying each year, and it gets very difficult to maintain a continuous supply to the three major hospitals in Champawat, Lohaghat and Paati on a regular basis.
The Bureau of Indian Standards, the authority that sets standards for all products in the country, stipulates that hospitals with more than 100 beds should have a round-the-clock piped supply of up to 450 litres of water per bed per day. This excludes water required for air conditioning and firefighting.
Champawat district hospital has 150 beds, and needs at least three tankers of water (10,500 litres) to function, Airy said. This means the average allocation is less than 50 litres per bed per day.
Yet Airy told The Third Pole that during the summer, the hospital receives only half the required quantity of water. On most days in the driest period it gets only two tankers (7,000 litres), and sometimes just one.
“When we order four tanks, we only get two and we are the main hospital in this district so I can imagine that the primary [or community] health centres would face even tougher situations.”
Tripti Bahuguna, director-general of State Health Services for Uttarakhand, said that healthcare provision is most affected in the Kumaon region (which encompasses Champawat district) and Pauri Garhwal district.
And witness here the ABC rules which stipulate AC operation theatres for dog sterilization !
In Jun 2023, Kerala State Minister for Local Self-Governments said that it was difficult to set up and run Animal Birth Control centres as per the central norms as the rules stipulate that sterilisation should be done in an AC operation theatre, the dog should be treated there for four days and be released only after the wound is healed.
The Dog Problem in Karanataka
It was in 2000 that the city’s civic body launched the birth control programme, touting it as a long-term solution to the stray dog menace. The programme calls for the systematic neutering of strays. Over two decades later, Bruat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike officials said that the civic body is fighting an uphill battle against nature.
“Dogs have two annual breeding cycles, with pregnancy lasting 60-62 days, and they give birth to six to eight puppies per cycle. Of this, half of them are usually female. Within 10 to 12 months, the puppies reach maturity and start reproducing on their own. The rate of reproduction is rapid and the birth control programme can only slowly take effect,” admitted an official.
In Kota city of Rajasthan, visiting the celebrated gardens now carries the risk of encountering packs of dogs.
A study in Punjab India, showed that the proportion of confirmed rabid dog cases was consistent throughout the study period (2004-2014).
Since 2008, Himachal Pradesh has used a "pooling strategy" to help patients save money by pooling vials of anti-rabies vaccine at a centralized hospital and sharing them using the intradermal technique.
It was Omesh Bharti, epidemiologist at the Himachal Pradesh State Institute of Health & Family Welfare, whose rabies immunisation treatment protocol has been notified as the global standard by WHO.
In India, the deadliest virus-caused disease - Rabies, where nearly 100 % of the patients die after developing symptoms - has not been notifiable until recently. In 2021, India declared rabies a notifiable disease.
The national figures from a study in 2005 showed 12,700 cases of the furious rabies type. The numbers of paralytic and atypical rabies were not estimated but the authors refer to a total rabies estimate by other studies of 20,000.
91% of the rabies deaths were in rural areas and only 16% of the deaths occurred in health facilities. 62 % of thsoe who died were males and 50 % were children under 15 years.
The median time from bite to death was 8 weeks.
Two-thirds of the deceased rabies patients had not sought hospital treatment. The third who did, received one or more vaccines after their most recent bite. However, only one patient completed the then recommended course of 14 injections.
“The true burden of rabies in India is not known. The reported incidence (in Government data) is probably an underestimation because in India rabies is still not a notifiable disease,” said the WHO representative to India in 2018. “The government figures are way lower than the actual figures,” says M K Sudarshan, founder member of the Association for Prevention and Control of Rabies in India.
A history of rabies vaccination in an animal is not always a guarantee that the biting animal is not rabid. Animal vaccine failures may occur because of improper administration or poor quality of the vaccine, poor health status of the animal, and the fact that one vaccine dose does not always provide long-lasting protection against rabies infection in dogs/cats. Hence, appropriate documentation of vaccination status of dog/cat and proper history should be elicited before deciding to defer post-exposure prophylaxis after bite by vaccinated dog/cat.
National Centre for Disease Control, 2015 |
A provoked dog bite should also be managed as an exposure and PEP started immediately. A provoked bite does not mean that the biting animal is not rabid. Washing of wound(s) should be carried out as soon as possible with soap and water (for a minimum of 15 min). Since the rabies virus can persist and even multiply at the site of bite for a long time, wound(s) must be washed even if the patient reports late.
After thorough washing and drying the wound(s), any one of the available chemical viricidal agents should be applied, such as povidone iodine, alcohol, etc.
In category III exposures (which result in drawing blood through the skin) rabies immunoglobulin should be infiltrated in the depth and around the wound(s) to neutralize the locally present virus. Suturing of wound(s) should be avoided as far as possible.
Rabies Immunoglobulin should never be administered in the same syringe or at the same anatomical site as vaccine.
A Times of India article mentions that the Rabies Vaccine, administered after a dog bite to prevent infection, works only 14-15 days later. Immunoglobulin, meanwhile, is administered in cases where the victim has grievous injuries accompanied by bleeding.
Most of the available rabies vaccines are indigenously produced in the country. The rabies vaccines are procured by the state governments - the scenario of their availability varies from 24 × 7 availability in Gujarat and Kerala, to occasional supplies in Manipur and Bihar. In fact, there is a 20-80 per cent shortage in anti-rabies vaccines across all States, barring Kerala and Gujarat. However, this is contradicted in an article in 2019, that stated that rabies vaccines had been in short supply in Ahmedabad for nine months.
Health is a state subject and it is the statutory, civic duty of local authorities as defined by Municipal Acts across the country to keep the streets free of straying animals, check the spread of diseases, and prevent public nuisance. The ABC programme transfers this responsibility of the government to voluntary organisations with no liability.
Dogs in his pack tend to become aggressive and become dangerous for humans and other animals, including pet dogs and stray bovines. If any dog feeder spots the first sign of aggression in any stray dog, it should be immediately reported to the civic agencies. If the dog's behaviour continues to be aggressive, it should be sent to a dog shelter for the safety of others.
"According to law, such dogs can only be sent back to their locality if they show a change in behaviour. Ignoring signs of aggression, defending aggressive dogs and preventing their removal from the area can lead to a disastrous situation," said Kaveri Rana Bhardwaj, an animal rights activist and rescuer.
Feeding dogs at places that are away from homes is important. Dogs have a territorial tendency and it's their nature to protect the human who is providing food. If a person is feeding the strays in front of her home, she is treating the dog like her pet and the stray dogs react like one despite being out on the street.
They will protect her house at any cost, and this leads to a dispute with other groups of dogs or even humans that are just passing by. Any suspicion can lead to a disaster if there is a pack of such dogs.
The People for Elimination of Stray Troubles blogspot makes an interesting point : Ensure that the citizens’ rights are upheld by clearing the streets of stray animals. Basically, this includes public areas free of stray animals as provided for by the municipal and panchayat acts - a demand that the existing law be implemented and enforced.
There is no rabies component in India’s only official rabies control programme. Prevention of human rabies deaths by post-bite vaccination of every person that is bitten, is not rabies control.
The Animal Birth Control Programme (ABC) is being implemented in only 60 big cities of India. Only Tamilnadu and Goa have attempted the programme in the entire State.
Goa has become the first state in India to eliminate rabies in humans, with no cases since 2018. The project, led by the NGO Mission Rabies, began in 2014.
The NGO's approach consists of remote teams of dog vaccinators, who systematically work their way through towns and villages vaccinating dogs.
Vaccination teams rotated through the talukas of Goa, re-starting the state campaign cycle on an approximately annual basis. A combination of door-to-door and capture-vaccinate-release (CVR) methods were used to access dogs for vaccination.
CVR involves catching street dogs in large nets, before vaccinating them and marking them in non-toxic green paint, and then releasing them again.
Their progress was recorded in a smartphone app, which collects data on dog sightings, geographical areas covered by the team, and the details of the vaccinated dogs.
The annual vaccination output increased, both in terms of geographic extent and a total number of dog vaccinations, through program refinement from 2013 to 2017. Intensive state-wide vaccination was achieved for the first time in 2017, vaccinating 97,277 dogs in an estimated total population of 137,353 dogs. Thus, a 70% dog vaccination coverage rate was achieved for the first time in 2017 using this method. This output was sustained through 2018 and 2019.
As well as vaccinating dogs, the methodology emphasizes ramping up disease awareness in society, such as running education programs in schools across Goa.
Children are taught how to avoid dog bites, as well as what to do if bitten. Currently, many rabies deaths occur due to incorrect post-bite treatment.