Sri Lankan Government resolves to work towards no-kill

[Guest guest]

As I read about the crisis of the shelter at Visakapuram, I feel like running

there to help, but we are also with our feet in high waters, not saltwater, not

rainwater, but floods of new dogs pouring into town because the 360 dogs had

been killed and the niches are being filled rapidly, also floods of puppies

because the false propaganda of rabies spreading makes people scared to adopt

the puppies. In preparation of the hearing on 29th we are trying to get some

more publicity, if possible through the TV also.

 

If anyone needs an article, which gives an idea abiout the earlier as well as

latest developments to publish it in other news-groups or in any other media, it

is pasted below.

 

A small good news to share: the Government has passed a policy-resolution, a

no-kill-bill for dogs and cats.This is a good first step, but the second step

has to follow:a new rabies-ordinance has to be passed. Before elections...

hopefully... as long as we are sure, that Mr.deSilva is Health-Minister.

 

THE TRUTH ABOUT KANDY AND ITS DOGS

 

 

 

Hardly a day is passing now without the media broadcasting the ridiculous

statements of the KMC-Veterinary-Surgeon Dr. Jayasinghe about the spread of

rabies in Kandy. It is amazing, that all those figures, which are being used to

prove the incidence of rabies in Kandy, are not being checked by the media

before broadcasting or printing them. Accurate figures are available from thes of Peradeniya Teaching Hospital and from the Kandy General Hospital,

which prove, that the number of dog-bite-cases is declining. In Kandy they have

decreased by more than 50%, in Peradeniya more then 100%. But the KMC Veterinary

Surgeon announced a 300% increase in Mid July on TV as well as in the newspapers

and with these figures he has also managed to shock the Municipal Council on

29th of July and made the councillors agree to pass a resolution, that all

unconfined dogs in sight should be killed. After his Department has killed 360

dogs within few days immediately after the Perahera, now he does not dare to

state such an incredible high figure, but gives various numbers between 30 and

130%, completely out of context though and still differing much from the

Hospital-figures.

 

 

 

WHO IS REALLY OBSTRUCTING THE ERADICATION OF RABIES?

 

 

 

In his latest TV-announcements Dr.Jayasinghe has also accused " a certain NGO " ,

obviously meaning SOFA (SAVE OUR FRIENDS ASSOCIATION), of having vested

interests in obstructing him carrying out his duty to keep Kandy free of rabies.

He also told me personally that he is sure, that we receive huge funds for this

sterilization-project. Being the Treasurer of SOFA I personally know about every

single rupee, which has been donated and about the way it has been spend and

even though I have to show the annual accounts only to the auditor and to the

members of SOFA, I herewith invite Dr.Jayasinghe to come and have a look at our

accounts, so that he can see with his own eyes, how we manage to get barely the

expenses of the programme covered while all members work on a voluntary base and

even our few employees, who clean the kennels and cook the food for the dogs,

get only a poor salary because SOFA cannot afford to pay more.

 

 

 

The truth about his statement, that we are obstructing him, is: When he asked

for funds to carry out a no-kill-programme in 2002 in order to control rabies in

a more efficient, scientific and and humane way, we met him because we were

ready to volunteer in such a programme even though we had no funds at that time.

When a sponsor decided to take it up, he appreciated her assistance and agreed

to catch and neuter enough of dogs, so that the programme would soon be showing

results, but the numbers were always below ten dogs a week, which would

obviously not be sufficient to stabilise the dog-population of Kandy. In spite

of this low performance the fees charged for the surgeries carried out by him

and for the organization of Sterilization-programmes through his Department were

expected to be raised. Naturally the sponsor refused. From that moment onward

the humane programme was no more attractive and the lobby started to revert to

killing.

 

 

 

WHY KILLING DOES NOT ERADICATE RABIES

 

 

 

Even if it was true, that rabies would be present in Kandy, what would the

mass-killing do about it? Absolutely nothing. As long as dogs breed uncontrolled

and are not regularly vaccinated, no amount of killing can catch up with the

breeding-rate and every dog removed from a particular territory will almost

immediately be replaced by another dog coming in to take his place as long as

food-sources are available. If dogs are being neutered and vaccinated and then

returned to their own territory, one by one, all the streets of Kandy will be

made safe because no unknown dogs, which are not vaccinated and sterilized will

enter. In such a systematic way the KMC was planning to go about the threat of

rabies three years ago and therefore handed the dog-pound over to us, so that we

could give post-surgical care to the dogs after they underwent sterilization.

After the cooperation of the KMC-Veterinary Department was gradually withdrawn

and serious obstructions of the no-kill-programme took place, hampering the

progress by stopping to catch dogs from the road, eventually the decision was

taken to revert to killing, which had to be prevented by a court-injunction.

Recently however the KMC decided to ignore the court-order and take the law in

its own hand, for which it has to answer before the District-court on 29th of

September 2005.

 

Even though we face each other in courts now, we are still ready to join hands

with the KMC again to carry out the humane programme in cooperation for the

protection of people from rabies.

 

 

 

We hope, that all those, who do not want to lose their dogs just because they

take a stroll on the street, will join us during the hearing in courts. We know,

that many have been weeping about the loss of their pets during these days of

terror, but instead of weeping silently, we all should stand together and

demand, that this cruel and inefficient method of rabies-control will be

replaced by a scientific and humane method, which consists of mass-sterilization

and vaccination.

 

 

 

Eva Ruppel (Treasurer SOFA)