Rabies vaccination drive reaches over 25,000 dogs
“Vaccinating 26,951 dogs in just a week is an incredible achievement by a dedicated and passionate Indian-led team” – Luke Gamble.
A rabies vaccination drive in Mumbai, India, has vaccinated 26,951 dogs in one week.
The project, which ran from Monday, 26 February to Friday, 1 March, was led by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation in partnership with Mission Rabies, a project ran by the charity Worldwide Veterinary Service (WVS).
Sixty teams administered vaccines to free-roaming dogs in the city and surrounding area, using an app to record the location of each vaccination and information about the dogs. The teams were made up of volunteers from India and around the world, including veterinary professionals from the UK.
The drive was part of an ongoing mission to make Mumbai a city free from rabies. An earlier long-term vaccination project in Goa saw the state declared a “Rabies Controlled Area” in 2021. There have been no human rabies deaths in Goa since 2018.
Around 20,000 people die from rabies every year in India, the majority of whom are children under 15 years old.
The World Heath Organisation, alongside the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the World Organisation for Animal Health and Global Alliance for Rabies Control, aims to eliminate human deaths from dog-mediated rabies by 2030.
Luke Gamble, CEO and founder of WVS, said: “Vaccinating 26,951 dogs in just a week is an incredible achievement by a dedicated and passionate Indian-led team.
“This intensive campaign is an important part of a much wider project led by the local government to vaccinate close to 100,000 dogs in the Mumbai region this year and we are honoured to support the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation in their efforts to rid Mumbai of this cruel and deadly disease.”
Image © Worldwide Veterinary Service
Veterinary practices are being urged to help owners safely dispose of any unused and expired pet medicines - not just antibiotics - during November's Animal Medicines Amnesty. 
