Dog population over 2.5 m

Nadira Gunatilleke

Sri Lanka’s dog population has gone up significantly, exceeding 2.5 million. The number of stray dogs has also increased. The number of persons bitten by dogs daily from all parts of the country has also increased. The Health Ministry will establish open dog homes at provincial level to address the issue, a spokesman said.

According to the spokesman the first open dog home is to be set up in Anuradhapura.

It will be built in a two acre land and all stray dogs in the North Central Province will be accommodated. The dogs will be looked after till they die, the spokesman said.

The government spends Rs 30,000 on an anti-rabies injection for a patient with suspected dog bite.

The government spends over Rs. 500 to treat patients with dog bites. The government spends another Rs. 200 million to sterilize stray dogs, vaccinate them and other rabies control programmes, the spokesman said.

Twenty persons in the country died rabies by May last year but during the last five months, only 10 persons had died from rabies. There is a 50 percent decrease in rabies deaths this year.

But the risk of spread of rabies has gone up, the spokesman said.

He said one million dogs were vaccinated against rabies last year.

During the last five months, another 400,000 dogs had been vaccinated against rabies while last year 90,000 dogs were sterilised. During the last five months another 25,000 dogs were sterilized. Birth control injections were given to 20,000 females.