• Strengthening commitment to eliminate rabies, control dog population 

Has Sri Lanka’s stray dog population increased? Several reports containing contradictory statistics have caught the attention of veterinarians, prompting the Association of Veterinarians for Humane Management of Animal Population (AVHMAP) to release a statement to clear the confusion.

With the probability of a dog population increase comes the risk of the spread of rabies. Statistics in recent years showing an increase in human rabies deaths have renewed the focus on measures taken by the State to prevent a rabies outbreak in the country whilst humanely controlling the dog population.

AVHMAP Advisor Dr. Chamith Nanayakkara told The Sunday Morning: “According to the association’s calculations, there were 2.1 million dogs in the country and 3% can be considered stray dogs. Furthermore, this year the Government has allocated Rs. 200 million to control the dog population and to continue with the sterilisation surgery programmes.”

Dr. Nanayakkara added that given the increasing costs of vaccines and necessary medications, this allocation was insufficient to continue sterilisation programmes. 

Although State Minister of Defence Premitha Bandara Tennakoon claimed earlier last week that there were 6.2 million stray dogs in the country, Dr. Nanayakkara asserted on behalf of the AVHMAP that the accurate number was around 2.1 million.

The AVHMAP stressed that pet owners had to either sterilise or vaccinate their animals and that the public should understand that there should be a collective effort to eliminate the spread of rabies and keep the dog population in control.

National Strategic Plan

According to the World Health Organization’s scientific analysis, if at least 70% of stray dogs received Anti-Rabies Vaccines (ARVs), the number of people getting rabies could be reduced to zero. 

To understand the Government’s commitment to reducing rabies in the country, The Sunday Morning spoke to Ministry of Health Public Health Veterinary Services (PHVS) Director Dr. L.D. Kithsiri, who reiterated: “From 2008 to 2021 the Government allocated Rs. 2 billion for population control of stray dogs through the sterilisation programme. Following this, a five-year National Strategic Plan (NSP) for eliminating dog-mediated human rabies came into play that integrated One Health approaches to prevent and control rabies.”

Dr. Kithsiri reiterated that the NSP recommended evidence-based, coordinated actions to eliminate dog-mediated human rabies by 2025 using robust control mechanisms and infrastructure developed over the last few decades. He said that implementing this five-year plan at an estimated budget of Rs. 1,104,272,060,560 would save lives, decrease the economic burden of rabies, and ensure that the country was a safe tourist destination.

The key objectives of the NSP are:

• Commitment to strengthening leadership, amending existing legislations and policies, and increasing the stewardship to manage rabies control activities efficiently and effectively
• Improvement of access to deliver comprehensive services in eliminating human rabies and promoting health such as increasing ARV coverage, advancing integrated bite case management including improved post-exposure treatment for animal bite victims, and increasing vigilance of animal rabies surveillance
• Promoting community engagement that empowers communities to participate in initiatives that will assist in eliminating human rabies actively

Dr. Kithsiri expressed hope that the NSP would assist the country in eliminating the last few cases of rabies from Sri Lanka and achieve its target of zero dog-mediated human rabies deaths by 2026 and eliminate dog-mediated rabies entirely by 2030.

Commitment to disease control

Before 2006, the law in Sri Lanka permitted public health authorities to cull stray animals, but a presidential order stopped the practice following lobbying by animal rights groups. Then Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena said the stray dog population was three million and was increasing rapidly due to poor sterilisation programmes in some areas of the country, noting that the outdated law of 1893 failed to reduce the spread of rabies. Therefore, the Government adopted scientific and humane methods of dog population control such as vaccination and spaying or neutering from 2006 onwards.

According to PHVS statistics, in 2011, the Government spent Rs. 300 million on treating rabies victims, Rs. 30 million on rabies vaccines, and Rs. 100 million on the sterilisation or neutering of dogs.

Although in 2015 a rabies outbreak pressured the Government to lift the moratorium on killing stray dogs as it attempted to tackle the problem of 2,000 people admitted daily to hospital after being bitten, this step was averted after a nationwide survey was conducted to identify dogs that had owners and such animals were provided collars. 

Although this initiative cost the Government Rs. 1 billion, all dog lives were spared as a few Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) too assisted the Government with a wide sterilisation programme to control rabies.

On 30 December 2019, the Forum on Disarmament and Development (FDD) presented a proposal to then Colombo Mayor Rosy Senanayake and then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa which contained an action plan to establish a ‘Dog Village’ in Colombo, aiming to relocate stray dogs to a secure location and clear up the streets. The plan included a Public-Private Partnership (PPP), raising funds through dog registration fees and donations, and creating a sanctuary for abandoned stray dogs. 

The ultimate goal was to achieve a stray dog population of zero within five years. The implementation of the proposal depended on amendments to existing laws and the passage of the Animal Welfare Bill.

In 2021, PHVS proposed that registering pet dogs would help manage the stray dog population and prevent rabies, citing that free-roaming stray dogs contributed to the said population issue and the spread of diseases such as rabies. Among the three million dogs in the country, around 30% are free-roaming stray dogs.