20 June 2023 09:36 am Views - 664
A 48-hour no-sleep animal clinic will be launched at the Anuradhapura Municipality as the first step of the pilot project to eradicate rabies from the country by humane means.
Dr. Chamith Nanayakkara, advisor to the board of the Association of Veterinarians for Humane Management of Animal Population, said the 48-hour free animal clinic will be launched this Sunday (25).
During the programme the veterinary doctors will provide sterility surgery facilities, anti-rabies vaccines and free medical services for all the animals in the Anuradhapura Municipality.
"The reason for launching this programme was complaints received by the Veterinary Department that the owners of the animals had no time to bring their pets during the daytime to obtain these services. So the Veterinarians Association has decided to launch the free animal clinic for 48-hours to ease their difficulties," Dr. Nanayakkara said.
The programme will be launched by five veterinarian doctors with the help of 15 veterinary assistants.
The target of this pilot programme is to show the government that rabies can be eradicated from the country by treating the animals in such a way. The government had spent a large sum of money with the aim of eradicating rabies, but with no visible results.
A total of 7,618 sterility surgeries have been performed since the programme's inception in 2020. 17,025 anti rabies vaccines have been provided.
At least 100,000 dogs had been killed annually in the country before 2006. But it was unable to control the dog population, so the Veterinarians Association decided to control the growth of such animals by humane means. (Chaturanga Pradeep Samarawickrama)