Ending Rabies in Dogs
#3000DogsIn30Days
Meeli cuddles his four 5-months old puppies born in March 2020 just as the lockdown measures for Covid-19 were being imposed in Kenya. Meeli is 14 years old and has been out of school due to the government-imposed coronavirus school lockdowns. He spends his days herding his family livestock. But today, that not what is on his mind. The dry season starting in January 2021 is about to begin.
“In November 2019, hyenas from the nearby Amboseli park came into the village killing goats, biting people and other animals” Meeli recalls. “I noticed one of my dogs change behaviour and become aggressive – the dog ran away and died in the bush. The Vet Doctor told me it was rabies” the fear and apprehension evident in his voice.
The dry season of January 2021 is approaching and with it comes the hyenas straying into the village. Meeli knows that not only are his four months old puppies in danger, but he too is exposed as he herds the cattle, sheep and goats in the rangelands surrounding the national park.
Stopping rabies deaths
In Kenya, a rabies outbreak in the 1970s resulted in the rapid spread of rabies across the country. Globally an estimated 60,000 people have died from rabies. In Kenya about 2000 people die annually from rabies. Many of the victims are children in arid and semi-arid areas along the livestock-wildlife-human interphase. A survey on the prevalence of rabies showed that rabies was detected in domestic animals (93%), wildlife (5%), and humans (2%) concentrated in six counties, one being Kajiado County. Kenya has launched an ambitious strategy to eliminate dog-mediated human rabies by 2030 to vaccinate 70% of the country’s dogs.
Rabies can be easily eliminated by vaccinating 70% of the domestic dogs living within the same area over 3-4 years. We know that when we control rabies in domestic dogs, it has a knock-on effect of drastically reducing rabies in wildlife like hyenas and other domestic animals. With rabies ended, human rabies from dog bites can be virtually eliminated.
Children are the primary victims of dog bites and rabies-related deaths. This is because children play with dogs, and when a dog gets infected with rabies, the same children do not know how to read the rabies signs or to how to protect themselves when attacked by a rabid dog.
Ending rabies through vaccinations
In support of Kajiado Counties plan to eradicate rabies, Eco Clubs of Kenya has launched the #3000DogsIn30Days campaign, that aims to vaccinate over 3000 dogs around the vicinity of Amboseli National Park in 2021. Alongside these vaccinations, Eco Clubs of Kenya will educate communities about rabies, how to avoid dog bites and what to do in case of a dog-bite. The Maasai around Amboseli National Park are pastoralists moving around with livestock over vast geography setting up mobile villages called bomas. Our vaccination team will visit households vaccinate their dogs, cats and donkeys, educate the families, especially the children on dog bite management and responsible dog ownership, deworm and de-flee the dogs.
The cost of a dog vaccine dose is $1 while the cost of a full human dose ranges from $45-65, a price that is out of reach for many pastoral households. The campaign to eliminate human- rabies, therefore, will focus on eliminating the diseases in dogs to protect people, livestock and wildlife.
Eco Clubs of Kenya will begin the campaign in 2021 under our Animal Disaster Fund as rabies, a zoonotic disease, is classified as an animal disease disaster requiring a marshal plan to eradicate it.
Meeli and his village will be beneficiaries of this campaign so he and his friends and family can have a rabies-free future.
#3000DogsIn30Days
