Rabies in India: The fierce battle does not end

Wild dogs are always looking for ways to attack 'prey', becoming a threat, a challenge for Indian people and authorities.

Every day, the team hunting wild dogs in the Indian state of Kerala is always on duty, ready to get on the way to do their duty, whenever they receive a call from the people.

Race with terrestrial sharks

"Handle them right away ," said one woman, who couldn't hold back the frustration and spoke from the porch, meanwhile, the neighbor quickly talked about how the wild dogs had " half- eaten" half of the ducks on the page. his camp.

Ayoos Sajimon, 7 years old, is recovering after many surgeries because of dog bites.(Photo: Washington Post).

Sharing the same feeling, the people walking on the road stood in a row of three, whispering about cases of wild dogs attacking the elderly and young children in the area. Some of them held the phone, attentively recording the "hunter hunter 's " dog catch scene. Every time I step out of the house, every danger always lurks, they feel like 'swimming with sharks'. Only thing, this race is on land, in the middle of Indian streets.

Meanwhile, people attacked by wild dogs are being treated at Kerala state's largest hospital, mostly children. Innocent children are suddenly bitten by dogs on their way to school or even at their doorstep.

They have an obsession, telling a story: Attacked by a stray dog.

India is the country with the most roaming dogs in the world, about 30 million. Moreover, people in South Asia are suffering many physical and psychological injuries for this animal. Statistics show that an average of 20,000 people die from rabies infection each year in India, accounting for more than a third of the world's cases.

In Kerala alone, more than 100,000 dog bites were reported in 2015, this number is constantly increasing each year. In May 2016, Indian officials said that between 1994 and 2015, about 434 people in Mumbai died of rabies, with about 1.3 million people nationwide being bitten by dogs. Authorities in the country are headache, struggling with the problem of wandering dogs and the risk of disease spread rapidly.

Wild dogs are hidden in parks, alleys, street corners and barbarian in the middle of the night. Pedestrians often carry bamboo pieces to scare them away, cyclists stuffed bricks full of bags to fight against " sly " hunters .

The obsession was attacked by wild dogs

In the last few years, hundreds of wild dogs and abandoned dogs have been destroyed in the country dubbed "Buddha land". This purge caused animal protection organizations to condemn harshly, demonstrations repeatedly broke out. They think that this animal 'cannot become a threat to the whole society'.

"We want Kerala to clean up the wild dogs. Look at the Western countries, are there any dogs that are free to walk on the streets? Everyday, old people and young children have to watch out for worries about being bitten by dogs" , Jose Mavelli, founder of eradication of wild dogs, countered.

On the street, it is easy to see many posters, propaganda posters about rabies. The image of sharp fangs made the viewers shudder, alert. In the 2016 elections in the state of Kerala, voters even called on each other to vote for strong advocates of "rebelling" the dogs.

Malini Jadeja, a resident of Delhi, said that once she was walking her dog Fudge Fadge, two wild dogs suddenly appeared and attacked. Fudge was caught in the chain so he could not run away.

"I tried to pull them out, but I managed to pull one out when the other one came in. In the end, they bit dead Fudge right in front of my eyes , " she recalls. Jadeja still blames herself and still is not shocked about the heartbreaking incident.

Dr. Radhey S.Sharma, chairman of the Indian Veterinary Association, insisted that walking the dog on the street was 'impossible' , because wild dogs were always on duty and suddenly attacked.

Wild dogs attack pedestrians.(Photo: NY Times).

The 3-year-old Arshpreet Kaur was attacked by a wild dog while playing in the house. After a week, Arshpreet developed symptoms of headache and fever. She quickly fell into a deep coma when she was taken to the hospital. After 9 years of plant life, her family and friends were heartbroken to say goodbye to Arshpeet forever.

"Dogs roam around everywhere in Delhi," said Jasmeen Kaur, Arshpreet's mother, crying in the air during a telephone interview with the NY Times. "We are afraid of being bitten more than anything in the world." .

Veterinarian Kishore Janardhanan frankly shared the view: "People always shouted:" Kill dogs, kill them but this is like "sea salt", because of the large number of wild dogs. We do not expect any easy or miraculous solution. The only thing to do is clean disinfection, but it has been forgotten. "

In April 2016, the Supreme Court in India asked the Kerala state government to pay $ 600 to relatives of rabies victims because of dog bites. Since 2001, India has enacted laws prohibiting killing dogs, but this cannot prevent authorities in Mumbai and Kerala from destroying wild dogs. Later, this destruction was stopped, many sterilization programs were carried out on a larger scale. However, the government also faced many difficulties because of limited capital.

Wild dogs not only frighten people because of sharp fangs but also transmission of other diseases and parasites.

Arpan Sharma, Executive Director of the Indian Federation of Animal Protection Organizations, said: "To reduce the number of wild dogs, the first thing to do is handle the waste areas. Then proceed. sterilization campaigns and vaccination for them '.