Huge spike in abandoned dogs following Ebola
Currently there are just four vets in Sierra Leone trying to vaccinate stray dogs.
Fear of Ebola has left some 500,000 dogs on the streets in Sierra Leone, according to World Animal Protection.
The animal charity say the Ebola epidemic of 2014 caused some owners to abandon their dogs on the streets in fear that they could pass on the disease.
However, this has led to a massive increase in the number of stray dogs and a fear of rabies, which kills five times more people in Africa than Ebola.
The situation in Freetown has reached crisis point, where stay dogs are being seen as both a nuisance and a threat to the community. Currently there are just four vets in Sierra Leone trying to vaccinate stray dogs against rabies.
“The situation in Sierra Leone is urgent, infrastructure is battered and there is a weak capacity with only a few qualified veterinary surgeons,” said Tennyson Williams, World Animal Protection.
“ A major outbreak of rabies would be catastrophic - the experience of Ebola points to that,” he adds.
World Animal Protection work across the globe to end the cruel culling of dogs in the name of rabies.
Veterinary surgeon Dr Jalloh, who works in Sierra Leone, said that one of the charity's initial objectives is to push to make Sierra Leone rabies free.
“The threat of rabies is the main cause of the [stray dog] problem and is therefore the starting point. It is important to ensure people feel safe with dogs,” he said.
Defra has published guidance for the vet sector ahead of a proposed UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary agreement.
