By Deb Jarrett | Founder
Another 4 months have gone by, and none of this life-saving work would be possible without your support.
The past few months have been filled with KAP surveys, monsoon season which always brings our saddest cases, and a 20 day Rabies Vaccination Camp.
To give you an overview of what your donations have help us do, here are our stats from June - September 2026.
Please continue reading for some highlights!
September Rabies Vaccination and Awareness Camp
September is the month of our annual Rabies Vaccination and Awareness Campaign, and this year our team was out vaccinating for 20 days straight, reaching 3,117 street dogs and pets.
A big congratulations to our team!
But we know that vaccinating dogs is just one part of it.
Through our ongoing surveys, we have found that of the 3,253 people surveyed, only 65% know what to do if bitten
Knowing what to do after a dog bite can save your life. Wash the wound with soap and water for 15 minutes, then go to the hospital immediately to start and complete the rabies vaccination course. Depending on the severity of the wound, rabies immunoglobulin may also be needed.
This is critical because once rabies symptoms appear, there is no cure.
So while our team was out vaccinating through slums, mountains, villages, and markets, our Community Outreach and Education team connected with 300 people to test their rabies knowledge and make sure they understood what to do if bitten.
Meet Mavis
Mavis comes from an area where we have only recently begun our sterilization program.
Dogs in these communities face a much harder life. The daily struggle to find food and survive weakens their immune systems, making them more vulnerable to disease.
When Mavis arrived at DAR, she was suffering from demodectic mange and tick fever. Mange often develops when a dog's immune system becomes weakened, while tick fever is spread by infected ticks and is preventable in owned dogs through monthly flea and tick protection. Street dogs have no one to provide that care, leaving them vulnerable to this potentially deadly disease. Together, these illnesses left Mavis weak, lethargic, and desperately in need of help.
Thanks to your generosity, Mavis received the treatment, nutritious food, and care she needed to make a full recovery. Today, Mavis is a completely different dog. The weak, exhausted dog who arrived at DAR has been replaced by a healthy, confident girl with a beautiful coat and a second chance at life.
This year, we set a bold goal: turn Rakkar Village, the very place DAR calls home, into a model village of coexistence between street dogs and humans.
The first step was to listen. Our team surveyed 500 of our neighbors here in Rakkar to find out what people actually knew and believed about street dogs, rabies, and sterilization.
What we learned was humbling. Only 41% had ever heard of rabies, and just 1 in 3 people bitten by a dog completed the full course of vaccines afterward. Only 1 in 4 had heard of sterilization at all and most did not know the purpose of it. The data made one thing clear: even though most of the dogs in the village are sterilized and vaccinated for rabies, we still have real work to do.
So we built a 3-month plan to turn what we learned into action.
August was month one of implementation.
Our first step was to meet with the newly appointed Pradhan (Village President), present our findings, and get his permission to move forward with the plan. We knew that once he saw the data, he would understand why this work was so important for the health and safety of the community.
The meeting was a success. He gave us permission to display educational banners and run our programs in local government schools, anganwadis (preschools), and women’s groups.
We also asked him to introduce us to the two women who serve as the village’s ASHAs, or Accredited Social Health Activists. ASHAs are trained village health workers who visit homes, provide basic health education, and connect families with government healthcare services. Because they are already trusted within the community, we believed they could help us teach families about rabies prevention, dog-bite safety, and what to do immediately after a bite.
The Pradhan made the introduction, and both women agreed to work with us to bring this important information directly into people’s homes. We are now developing materials they can easily carry with them and use to share the information during their visits.
Our team also ran two educational programs for 160 children at Rakkar’s government schools.
We hope you found this report informational and that you feel proud for supporting our work. We could not do it without your faith and trust in us.
With Gratitude
Deb Jarrett, Founder & CEO
PS: Consider becoming a monthly sustaining donor so we can plan our future.
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