We recently sponsored Lisa Angus from Wendover Heights Veterinary Centre (WHVC) who was teaming up with Mission Rabies to help vaccinate 50,000 dogs against rabies in India.
We can report that the first phase of Mission Rabies has been a massive success with the trip coming to a close on World Rabies Day (September 28th).
The teams involved managed to vaccinate 55,978 dogs against rabies across India in just 4 weeks, something that has never been achieved anywhere in the world before.
In Kolkata where Lisa was based they hit their 5,000 dog vaccination target despite getting behind in the first week due monsoon rain.
Lisa Commented “The last month has been an amazing experience, it has been fantastic to be part of such a great team of local and international volunteers. We have achieved so much, yet this is just the beginning of a much longer term plan of Mission Rabies to continue to reduce rabies to save the precious lives of people and dogs in India. Vaccination drives will continue over the coming years and animal birth control neutering projects will help to reduce the street dog populations and keep the dogs healthier and local vets will be trained to continue the good work. Thank you all so much for your donations and support for this truly worthwhile cause, it really will make a difference here in India.”
India is the rabies hotspot of the world, where a child dies of rabies every hour, most often after being fatally bitten by an infected dog. Fear of rabies in India results in hundreds of thousands of healthy dogs being inhumanely destroyed every year. Mission Rabies is just the start of a sustainable long-term project in India to vaccinate and neuter dogs, to train local vets to continue rabies control and develop a National Rabies Network, all to save the lives of people and dogs and prevent the spread of the disease.
To read more about how Mission Rabies is helping the people and dogs of India visit www.missionrabies.com where you can follow the Mission Rabies blog or subscribe to e-mail updates of this extraordinary journey. Well done to Lisa and all those involved in this amazing project.