Vets in India are not trained in school to take on the massive problem of 62 million street dogs; including the need for humane dog population management and rabies control. In a rural area like Dharamsala, getting trained vets to run our program is extremely difficult. Poor weather (monsoon/Himalayan winter) without proper infrastructure (reliable power/water) impacts our ability to run a regular program. This WVS training and camp will allow DAR to have a greater impact in the community.
At DAR we are working to reduce the human/street dog conflict by stabilizing the street dog population through spay/neuter programs and eradicate rabies deaths in humans through mass rabies vaccination and education. The course teaches with skills and confidence in good quality surgery, related clinical skills and increased understanding in veterinarian's role in public health matters like rabies control and responsible use of antibiotics. Once trained. We will run camps to increase our impact.
Most graduating vet students want to work with large animals or with the government department of animal husbandry for family benefits packages. Even if they work with us they leave after one year or less for furthering studies or government jobs. By training multiple vets in the community we will have an on call roster to make sure our spay/neuter/vaccination program does not halt. And we will be able to run large camps twice a year to increase our overall impact on the community.
By upping the number of dogs we spay/neuter/vaccinate each year - from 500 to 2000, we have a greater chance of stabilizing population and lowering rabies risk. In addition, it will improve the welfare of the street dog population: less dogs means more food, less accidents, illnesses, abuse, and death.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
