Manumitra for Dog Management

In the wake of urbanization and haphazard human settlement, Kathmandu has been subjected to many unconventional problems that are often considered as afterthought by our government. The problem of community dog management comes inside same category. In present days, almost every nooks and corner inside Kathmandu metropolitan city homes thousands of community dogs that remain potential of various threats to the human population. Every wards are receiving complaints regarding dog problem like; dog bites, spreading rabies, disturbing people, throwing garbage etc. According to the data, the city of Kathmandu alone homes more than 23,000 street dogs and every year around 200 people in Nepal are fated to die of rabies and 35,000 are treated for dog bites.

Tracing the history of dog management from then to now, there has been some positive development, but the government has not been fully successful in addressing the problem. Given the fact that for the past fifty years KMC relied on brutal approach of dog management as the government ruthlessly killed thousands of dogs by poisoning them to curve their breeding population. When such harsh initiatives failed to yield any good results, the KMC sought for some institutional management steps, and finally in 2016 it introduced metropolitan dog management program name “Manumitra”. The program was hosted with an objective to facilitate dog management in systematic and humanely manner. Manumitra began to operate dog management steps by putting local bodies and communities together and conducted widespread vaccination and sterilization operation under community involvement.

For more effective outcomes, KMC took the leadership and also partnered with other non-governmental organizations to technically and scientifically execute dog management in selected areas. Kathmandu Metropolis City collaborated with “The Jane Goodall Institute Nepal” for necessary research, exploration and planning to implement optimal dog management system in the metropolis. The collaborative team prepared a roadmap for dog management in all 32 wards of metropolis and established ward level animal management committees and also initiated dog management education programs in community schools. Under Ward’s community dog ​​management strategy, a comprehensive sterilization program was launched to minimize the number of dogs, and annual vaccination programs were conducted for the protection of rabies. After various surveys like KAP Survey and Biannual Street Survey, the dog management program was implemented on some selected wards of Kathmandu metropolis. Following the successful implementation, the Manumitra program was widely continued in other wards. And owing to the support and active participation from community level, the Manumitra program is currently operating inside all the wards of KMC. With the coordination of technical teams and animal management committees, it was ensured that 80% of the community’s dogs received vaccinations under that program.

Recently, Manumitra’s technical team has been working closely with animal management committees for rabies prevention, controlling dog’s population, management of suspected rabies dogs and immediate rabies response. As per the objective of the program, in recent days, the work of the technical team, local bodies and community participation in Manumitra has achieved remarkable results. The annual vaccination program has already been done in 23 wards and the dog management education session has been hosted in around 51 school. Given this achievement, it can be ensured that this program will result sustainable dog management in Kathmandu.

Till now Manumitra program has contributed a lot for dog management in Kathmandu metropolis. Firstly, due to successful vaccination and sterilization of dogs in 27 wards, there has been significant decrease in population of puppies and rabies prone dogs. There has been establishment of Animal Management Committees which will take the responsibility of registering dogs, sterilizing and vaccinating against rabies. Till date 207 animal management assistants have been arranged under the program, and every ward has atleast one facilitator. As per the data, 7595 dogs have been sterilized, and 10940 dogs have received vaccine against rabies.

Similarly, to achieve dog management target in stipulated timeframe, the government should estimate proper budget to mobilize professional teams. According to the study done by World Health organization (WHO), “In up to 99% of cases, domestic dogs are responsible for rabies virus transmission to humans” and injecting community dogs can minimize rabies cases by more than 70%. If we see the international scenario since 1983 many countries in the WHO Region of the Americas have minimized the incidence of rabies by over 95% in humans and 98% in dogs by implementing effective policies and programs that centered on regionally coordinated dog vaccination campaigns and raising public awareness. For similar achievement, the Manumitra program adopted by Kathmandu metropolitan city seems scientific, humanly and sustainable approach to dog management. Thus, the government of Nepal should give required policy level, institutional and financial support to such philanthropic initiative.

Furthermore, in the case of Nepal, effective implementation of vaccination and sterilization programs as adopted by Manumitra seems to be the best response mechanism against dog problem. In today’s time where people are advocating for animal right, the inhuman methods of eliminating dogs remain unacceptable to modern society. Since neolithic era, Nepali society has been domesticating the ‘pariah’ dog for safeguarding the house. Our ancient society had recognized their utility as companion being and their right to coexist with human was accepted by ancient people. Thus reviving the culture of adopting community dog by every household can also be best strategy to manage dog population in Kathmandu.

References:

WHO data: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/rabies

Kathmandu homes 23000 dogs and annually 200 people die of Rabies: https://myrepublica.nagariknetwork.com/news/kathmandu-has-23-000-street-dogs/

Manumitra lunched: https://www.hsi.org/news-media/nepal-dog-population-management-042016/