PANJIM: Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Services Minister Nilkanth Halarnkar, on Wednesday, reviewed the anti-rabies vaccination drive at Divar island after two dogs tested positive.
The Minister directed Mission Rabies to cover almost 100 per cent dogs to stop virus from spreading and to eliminate rabies in the State.
Director of Mission Rabies Dr Murugan Appupillai said that they started their second special campaign at Divar island from Wednesday. “So far we have vaccinated 878 dogs and the drive will continue until Friday evening,” he said.
According to Dr Murugan, all the vaccination, education and surveillance teams are working in Divar. The stray dog population was very high, an estimated to about 1,500, which he said, was highly disproportionate to the human population which is about 5,000 as per 2011 Census and may be 6,000 now.
“I suspect that mainland people might have either dumped or abandoned puppies on the island. It could also be that the dogs here are well fed, and tend to multiply as the mortality rate is less,” he said.
Reacting to the incident of tourists bitten by dogs on beaches, the Minister advised hoteliers and shack operators not to give waste food to the dogs. He said that because of the food, many stray dogs gather outside these hotels and create nuisance to others. He said that anti-rabies vaccination and sterilisation of dogs was on across the State to prevent the spread of disease.
The Mission Rabies programme was launched in Goa in 2013.
