Rabies concern

Wai! The problem of stray dogs is coming back to haunt us. The case of six people suspected to have been bitten by a rabid dog in Phuentsholing last week is worrying. Given our huge stray dog population, the danger of rabies is ever high. A single rabid dog can spread the deadly disease rapidly among freely roaming dogs in the towns exposing humans to the disease.

Studies show that every year thousands of people die from rabies around the world. And rabies is found to be most prevalent where the population of stray dogs as well as pet dogs is high. In some parts of the world, the boom in pet dogs is found to increase the incidence of rabies cases. Beijing city in China has adopted a ‘one-dog’ policy in order to curb the cases of rabies among pet dogs.

In our country, the problem is even more complicated because our stray dog population is on the rise by the year. The government has tried to curb the dog population by adopting different measures like killing, sterilizing, and impounding. But none of these has worked effectively.

Noise pollution notwithstanding, the cases of dog bites are increasing in towns like Thimphu. And with this comes the risk of rabies. Until now, we’ve seen only some sporadic cases of rabies from time to time. But we can’t expect the same in the future. Are we prepared for a rabies epidemic? Who will deal with it? Given our high dog population, it’s time we asked serious questions about rabies.