The district health department in Rawalpindi is currently running a campaign, in coordination with the Tehsil Municipal Administration (TMA), to eliminate stray dogs.
However, the teams from the health department faced interference from volunteers belonging to a non-governmental organization, which caused them to stop working in the field.
According to District Officer Health Dr. Ehsan Ghani, the district health department has been providing technical assistance to the TMA in the campaign to control the population of stray dogs, with supervision from the district sanitary inspector.
District Sanitary Inspector Shahid informed a national daily that the teams have resumed their work in the field after filing a First Information Report (FIR) against the volunteers of the NGO. So far, the teams have eliminated 49 stray dogs from seven union councils in the town.
The district health department has planned to launch a campaign for controlling the stray dog population after the severe heat spell in the region.
It has been observed that during extremely hot weather conditions, the incidence of rabies in stray dogs increases. Rabies is an acute infectious zoonotic disease that affects the central nervous system and can be transmitted to humans and other animals through close contact with the saliva of infected animals, usually through bites, scratches, or licks on broken skin or mucous membranes.
