Bhutan faces a serious public health challenge with around 10-15 rabies deaths annually. According to the WHO, “Bhutan is endemic for rabies” and accounts for 2% of the world’s deaths. Tragically, 5-10% of reported rabies cases and deaths in Bhutan occur in children under the age of 15 years, as bites often go unrecognized and unreported.

How to Prevent Rabies

Rabies is 99% fatal but 100% preventable through vaccination. Effective rabies elimination requires a two-pronged approach: vaccinating and sterilizing the stray dog population.

Rabies Vaccination Drive for International Rabies Day – Sept 28th

For World Rabies Day, Zeus Nakulu Dog Shelter will vaccinate 500 street dogs around Thimphu city. This vaccination drive focuses on both dog health and human health, aiming to reduce human-dog conflicts and educate the public on how to respond to dog bites. Once any physical symptoms of rabies appear, it is almost always fatal, making prevention critical.

The Logistics

Planning and implementing this drive is a complex task. Here’s how we do it:

1. Pre-Drive Planning:
   • Sign-Up Forms: Distributed to feeders, animal lovers, and more to identify key participants.
   • Volunteer Recruitment: We gather volunteers to assist with various tasks during the drive.
2. Catching Stray Dogs:
   • Challenges: Dogs often flee when they see dog catchers, leading to a chase that may or may not result in a catch.
   • Team Setup: Each of our two teams includes a trained dog catcher, a vaccinator, a record keeper, and someone to apply paint to vaccinated dogs to avoid duplicating efforts.
   • Capture Methods: If local feeders or treats fail to lure the dogs, our trained catchers use nets to trap them.
3. Vaccination and Record-Keeping:
   • Data Collection: We record the number of dogs vaccinated per area, their sex, and whether they have been spayed/neutered.
   • Coverage Goal: Our goal is to vaccinate a minimum of 70% of the dogs in each area, as achieving this coverage is crucial to eradicating rabies.

Proven Effective Methods

Mass killings of stray dogs, previously done by municipalities, were ineffective as the dog population quickly repopulated. In contrast, vaccination and sterilization programs have proven to be effective in controlling dog populations and preventing rabies in the long term.

Goa is Bhutan’s first and only state to become rabies-free for four years, thanks to the efforts of Mission Rabies,  Veterinary Services Thimphu, and Dogstrust Worldwide. Their success in achieving 70% vaccination coverage demonstrates that this approach can eliminate the disease.