TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: Even as there is a perception of increasing number of strays in Goa, ‘Mission Rabies’ that vaccinated at least 4,462 dogs in North Goa by the end of the first week of September found that pets outnumbered street dogs.
The programme’s post-vaccination survey has shown that the teams had managed to vaccinate over 70% of the dogs in the targeted areas in the panchayats, but fell slightly short in the Mapusa municipality as the market and bus stand areas could not be covered owing to the heavy festival shopping. But these were subsequently done on the night of September 12. Four teams comprising vets, dog-catchers and record-keepers vaccinated both stray and pet dogs.
According to Norma Alvares, people responded enthusiastically to the programme, by tying up their pets and keeping them ready for the anti-rabies vaccination shot. It was found that many of the pets were being vaccinated for the first time.
Surprisingly the programme has also revealed the presence of a large number of pets in most areas ~ outnumbering the strays. Most households have at least two pet dogs, with a surprisingly large number having three to four dogs and some households even keeping up to 9 pets.
Mission Rabies will resume the drive from September 16 and visit Margao, Ponda, GMC Complex, Merces, Chimbel and Carambolim.
