(Beth Clifton collage primarily based on BAWA pictures.)
226 dogs saved from slaughter; 1000’s extra could possibly be saved by eradicating rabies
SEMARANG, Indonesia––Indonesian police on January 6, 2024 intercepted and rescued 226 dogs discovered with their legs certain and mouths tied shut from a truck hauling them by way of Semarang metropolis to slaughter within the neighboring metropolis of Surakarta, Agence France Presse reported.
“The authorities arrested five truck crew members, who will be charged under an animal welfare regulation and could face up to five years in prison,” Agence France Presse stated.
(BRING Facebook picture)
21 cities have banned the canine meat commerce
Semarang, amongst 21 Indonesian cities which have banned the sale of canine meat in recent years, lies alongside the north coast of Java, 271 miles east of Jakarta, the Indonesian capital metropolis, and 217 miles west of Surabaya.
Jakarta prohibited the canine meat commerce in March 2023, at urging of Dog Meat Free Indonesia, a coalition consisting of Animal Friends Jogja, the Change for Animals Foundation, Four Paws, Humane Society International, and the Jakarta Animal Aid Network.
Dog Meat Free Indonesia in August 2018 gained a pledge from the Indonesian ministry of agriculture that it might help a nationwide ban on the sale of canine and cat meat, and would deny certification of canine and cat carcasses as secure for human consumption.
According to Dog Meat Free Indonesia, “It is estimated that only about 4.5% of Indonesia’s 270 million people have ever consumed dog meat. A nationwide opinion poll conducted by Nielsen in 2021, commissioned by Dog Meat Free Indonesia, revealed that 93% of all Indonesians support a national ban.”
(Beth Clifton collage)
Rabies nonetheless present in 26 of 34 provinces
Rabies outbreaks in Indonesia have been carefully related to the canine meat site visitors since 1890, when the primary case within the nation was recognized, reported by the veterinarian C.A. Penning.
The first human rabies loss of life on document in Indonesia was reported by a physician E.V. de Haan in 1894.
As of 2021, 26 of the 34 Indonesian provinces had reported recent rabies instances in home dogs, in accordance with the Indonesian ministry of well being. About 100,000 canine bites per 12 months lead to from 150 to 300 human rabies deaths, about the identical because the annual human rabies loss of life toll logged in India since 2003 by the Central Bureau of Health Intelligence.
(See Life-or-death distinction: rabies-infected, or rabies-suspected?)
(Mission Rabies Facebook picture)
National vaccination drive
Reports the One Health website online maintained by the United Nations Food & Agricultural Organization [FAO] , “The Indonesian government is dedicated to eliminating rabies through the implementation of mass dog vaccination as its primary approach.
“Efforts to improve dog vaccination, including the use of capture-vaccinate-recapture [for booster vaccinations] techniques led to a reduction in cases in Bali [since 2008] of around 80% in animals and 90% in humans,” the FAO One Health website online summarizes.
“Challenges still exist in capturing dogs using the capture-vaccinate-recapture method, which prompted a collaboration between the FAO, government, and other agencies to explore oral rabies vaccination trials in Bali and East Nusa Tenggara Provinces,” the FAO One Health website online summarizes.
Oral rabies vaccine pellet utilized in Ontario, Canada.
Oral vaccine trial underway
Concludes the FAO One Health website online, “On World Rabies Day 2023, the Indonesian
government officially approved an import permit for commercially manufactured oral rabies vaccines for scaled-up dog vaccinations.”
Conventional rabies vaccines are extremely temperature-sensitive.
Beth & Merritt Clifton
Oral rabies vaccines, embedded in bait pellets, have been used efficiently in opposition to fox rabies in Europe for greater than 40 years and in opposition to rabies in North American wildlife together with foxes, raccoons, skunks, and coyotes for practically 30 years, but when the oral rabies vaccination strategy succeeds in Indonesia, it is going to be the primary reported success in an equatorial local weather.
