Bhubaneswar: Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to expand its planned mass anti-rabies vaccination drive to cover at least 5,000 more puppies, born after the Oct dog census, officials said. As the Oct census count stood at 47,000, now the BMC will have to account for 52,000 dogs.The city’s mass vaccination campaign is scheduled to begin from March 15, following a tripartite agreement signed on Friday among the BMC, College of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry under Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) and a veterinary service trust. The agreement was signed days after the Supreme Court’s strictures on the issue of stray dog management.The BMC officials said the puppies — born in Nov and Dec — who have now crossed three months of age, will be eligible for the vaccination. “If we aim to achieve the globally recommended threshold of 70% vaccination coverage to break rabies transmission, we will need to vaccinate a little over 36,000 dogs in the city,” said Dr Debi Prasad Kund, designated veterinarian and in charge of animal birth control (ABC) at the BMC.So far, only around 5,000 dogs have been vaccinated in the city, largely those that underwent sterilisation under the ABC programme and received anti-rabies shots during quarantine at kennels.Under the new mission-mode plan, 15 teams will conduct on-site vaccination across the city over two months. Each team will be assigned a daily target of vaccinating 50 dogs, who will be caught using nets and released in the same area as picked after vaccination, the BMC officials said.“The mass drive will be supported through training, standard operating procedure development and field operations. From March second week, the mass anti-rabies vaccination will start and would likely end in May,” Kund said.The veterinary interns of OUAT will be engaged in the drive, Kund added.Animal rights activist Jivan Dash said the mass vaccination of stray dogs is a welcome step that will help sterilize roughly 70% of stray canines in city to control their birth in coming mating season. “But the BMC will have to take extra care to vaccinate the puppies who shouldn’t be less than three months old as it may harm the animal,” Dash told TOI.
