The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Oral vaccines for stray dogs

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Feb 19, 2007
ePaper


<SCRIPT language='JavaScript1.1' SRC="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adj/N4322.hinduonline/B2155503.3;abr=!ie;sz=468x60;ord=[timestamp]?"> </SCRIPT> <NOSCRIPT> <A HREF="http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/N4322.hinduonline/B2155503.3;abr=!ie4;abr=!ie5;sz=468x60;ord=[timestamp]?"> <IMG SRC="http://ad.doubleclick.net/ad/N4322.hinduonline/B2155503.3;abr=!ie4;abr=!ie5;sz=468x60;ord=[timestamp]?" BORDER=0 WIDTH=468 HEIGHT=60 ALT="Click Here"></A> </NOSCRIPT>

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Oral vaccines for stray dogs

Staff Reporter

Bangalore: Animal welfare organisations may soon be using oral vaccines to inoculate stray dogs as part of "Rabies Free India", a pilot project, initiated by the Animal Welfare Board of India, Union Ministry of Environment and Forests.

The start-up of the pilot project was discussed at a workshop recently in New Delhi in which a core group from the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Health and Ministry of Environment and Forests participated.

Suparna Ganguly, vice-president of Compassion Unlimited Plus Action (CUPA), said the oral anti-rabies vaccine had undergone a five-year trial and had been cleared by the Drug Comptroller General of India. "The project will be launched in Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore. In the recommendations, it was suggested that initially the project should be started in some urban and rural segments. The vaccine (in liquid state) is ensconced in a food pellet. When the dog bites the pellet, the vaccine is released, mixes with the saliva and gets absorbed eventually. Animal welfare organisations will have to monitor the project closely as the vaccine is expensive," Suparna Ganguly said.

F.X. Meslin, J. Barrat and F. Cliquet from the World Health Organisation and World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) along with R.M. Kharb, chairman of the Animal Welfare Board of India, will launch the project here on February 23.

CUPA president K. Sreenivasan said the animal welfare organisations working with the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike on the Animal Birth Control Programme had taken up an aggressive re-vaccination programme in Bangalore.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka