(IN) - Dog bites on the rise in Darjeeling?

[Guest guest]

*This news is 1,5 month old .... I thought rabies was eradicated from

Darjeeling thanks to Help in Suffering?*

 

*Dogs bites on rise in Hills*

 

*http://beacononline.wordpress.com/2008/03/14/dog-bites-in-hills-on-rise/

 

*Darjeeling, March 13: *Incidences of dog bites have surfaced in the hill

town with the *Darjeeling

Municipality*<http://www.answers.com/topic/darjeeling-municipality?nafid=22>not

functioning for the past one month.

 

Plaban Das, medical director, Planter's Hospital, today confirmed seven

cases of dog bites, which were treated in the hospital in February. " The

victims included two foreigners and of the seven cases only one had been

bitten by a pet dog, " Das said.

 

A 17-year-old boy from Arunachal Pradhesh studying in Darjeeling is being

" suspected " of having contacted

*rabies*<http://www.answers.com/topic/rabies?nafid=22>.

" The boy did not seem to have taken the

*bite*<http://www.answers.com/topic/bite?nafid=22>seriously. He got

alarmed only after the dog died 15 days of the bite. He

contacted a local pharmacy which suggested him anti-rabies vaccine but that

seems to have been insufficient in this case, " the doctor said.

 

*People* <http://www.answers.com/topic/people?nafid=22> who are bitten by *

dogs* <http://www.answers.com/topic/dog?nafid=22> should get treated within

*24 hours* <http://www.answers.com/topic/24-hours?nafid=22>. Medical *

experts* <http://www.answers.com/topic/expert?nafid=22> maintain that any *

delay* <http://www.answers.com/topic/delay?nafid=22> could be fatal as the

earliest confirmation of rabies comes only after 10 days.

 

The municipality has a " dog squad " but since it is closed for the past one

month, no action on street dogs has been taken. " Our road chowkidars usually

inform us about dog bites and we refer the cases to health officials. The

last report of *dog bite*

<http://www.answers.com/topic/dog-attack?nafid=22>we received was in

February, as all departments except for essential

services are closed, " said R Thatal, the civic body's executive officer.

 

The impasse in the municipality is because of the indefinite strike called

by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha. The party has questioned the legality of the

election of the chairman, which had taken place in the absence of government

observer. [The Telegraph | Vivek Chettri]

------------------------------

 

 

--

Lucia de Vries

Freelance Journalist

Bagdol, Patan, Nepal

Wijk 4-47, 8321 GE Urk, Holland

[Guest guest]

Here is a mail from the Goodwill Animal Shelter in Kalimpong, with a

reaction to the rise of dog bites and incidence of rabies in Darjeeling. I

forgot that the towns Kalimpong and Darjeeling are quite a distance apart.

HIS has not reached out to Darjeeling, which explains why they face problems

overthere.

 

---------- Forwarded message ----------

Naveen Pandey <naveen

Wed, May 28, 2008 at 9:07 AM

Fw: (IN) - Dog bites on the rise in Darjeeling?

luciadevries

 

 

Dear Lucia,

 

this is Naveen from Kalimpong. Your posting to the aapn website was sent to

me by a friend of mine.

 

please note that Help In Suffering through its branch in Kalimpong has

worked so far in Kalimpong only and rabies is controlled here. But

Darjeeling has never been brought under our ABC programme so far till date and

Help In Suffering has never claimed so.

 

Darjeeling Goodwill Animal Shelter's effort to start such a programme is

briefly narrated here. I'll be happy if you kindly put my this reply (in red

below) on aapn as an explanation from us.

 

Take care. Best wishes.

 

Thanks in anticipation.

 

Naveen

______________________________\

___

 

I'm shelter vet for Kalimpong Animal Shelter. We have been carrying on an

animal birth control ( ABC )and anti-rabies vaccination programme for stray

dogs in Kalimpong for the last ten years. As a result of our sustained

efforts the stray dog population in Kalimpong has significantly gone down.

The incidence of dog bites are insignificant here and cases of rabies are no

longer being recorded in our ABC/ARV area for the past six years barring two

incidences where the bite and spread was by a 'pet' to the 'owner'. We have

laid lot of emphasis on mass awareness programme as well through bilingual

leaflets.

 

 

 

Following the success of our programme in Kalimpong we received numerous

requests to open a similar unit in Darjeeling to run ABC/ARV programme by

the local residents of Darjeeling. Difficulty to find a suitable land with

facilities like road access, electricity, water and other basic amenities

delayed our programme. Two years back our sister organisation Darjeeling

Goodwill Animal Shelter ( DGAS) purchased a suitable land and now the

infrastructure is about to be completed in 4 to 6 weeks time.

 

 

 

We had two rounds of meetings with the newly formed municipality in

Darjeeling in the last one month which were attended by various other NGOs.

The moral support from the new Chairman of the Darjeeling Municipality has

been amazingly positive. DGAS has taken the responsibility of carrying on

ABC/ARV programme for all the stray and community dogs of Darjeeling and the

Municipality has assured that there would be no effort from any quarter

towards killing dogs. From Monday 26th May 2008 DGAS staff and vet are

active vaccinating all the free roaming dogs of Darjeeling. Volunteers from

Morning Health Club are helping our team in locating and vaccinating the

dogs. This programme is getting the support of the Darjeeling Municipality

in the form of manpower. The vaccinated dogs are identified by the red

collars they don after vaccination.

 

 

 

Rabies control is a slow process which will be attained only through mass

sterilisation and immunisation of both the stray and community owned dog

population. Cooperation and support from the local people of Darjeeling will

be of immense help. Thanks.

 

 

 

Dr Naveen Pandey email naveen