Kerala is Gods own Country which is becoming Dogs own.
Stray dogs have been posing a great threat to people, especially women, children and the elderly in n Kerala, for some time.
The
issue has been a point of debate in Kerala for the last few years after
increase in incidents of stray dog attacks and was also raised in the
Assembly earlier this year.
KERALA
According
to a report submitted in the Supreme Court recently in a connected
case, more than one lakh people in Kerala have been bitten by dogs in
2015-16.
The report was submitted by a
committee appointed by the apex court to look into the aspect of
treatment of people bitten by stray dogs and claims of compensation in
the state.
The report also said Kerala is
estimated to have stray dog population of 2.5 lakh, which feed lavishly
on the waste and garbage dumps across cities and towns.
According
to the panel, the maximum reported cases of dog bites were from
Thiruvananthapuram - 5948, Palakkad - 4916, Kollam - 3670,
Pathanamthitta - 2892, Alappuzha - 2967, Ernakulam - 2050, Thrissur -
2044 cases and Koattayam - 1614.
INDIA
National
Multi centric Rabies Survey, conducted in 2003 by the Association for
Prevention and Control of Rabies in India in collaboration with the
World Health Organization reported that there were 20, 565 deaths from rabies per year in India.More than 10, 00,000 people undergo anti-rabies vaccination every year.
Every
two seconds, one person is bitten by a dog in India. It is reported
that there are approximately 25 million(2.5 crore) dogs, with an
estimated dog: man ratio of 1:36 in India.
How Grave is the situation
It is known that $25 million are
spent on Post Exposure Prophylaxis in India annually. Around 40% of
Post Exposure Prophylaxis is given to children below the age of 15yrs.
Most
rabies deaths were in males (62%), in rural areas (91%), and in
children below the age of 15 years (50%). As per recent National
guidelines for prevention of rabies in India 2013, dogs are responsible
for about 97% of human rabies, followed by cats (2%), jackals, mongoose
and others (1%). Across Asia the annual expenditure due to rabies is
estimated to be reaching 563 million USD.
"The
penalty amount for killing a stray dog was only Rs 50. If everyone
decides to kill a stray dog a day, then the menace will be over." -
‘Stray-Dog-free Movement' chairman Kochouseph Chittilappilly
Along with in preventive measures to curb the dog population has to be employed
- Waste management.
- Sterling the dogs.
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