To deal with the fallout of a growing number of stray dogs in buffer area of Pench Tiger Reserve (PTR), the PTR management is going to commence rabies and ticks vaccination drive. The management aims to cover nearly 6,000 stray dogs in 60 villages of buffer and nearby areas of the Tiger Reserve in the next one month. The management has observed that the issue of ticks among stray dogs of the buffer areas has increased drastically and it may spread among wild animals. “To avoid the spread of ticks menace among wild animals in the forest area we are going to vaccinate all stray dogs residing in nearby villages,” Dr Prabhunath Shukla, Deputy Director, PTR, told ‘The Hitavada’. “We will act according to the standard operating procedure (SOP) prepared by National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) to capture the stray dogs residing near the tiger reserve. We will follow this rule -- count them all, take them away, and vaccinate and sterilise them,” said Dr Shukla.

 

“It is difficult to restrict the population of stray dogs in the vicinity but we are going to launch another campaign throughout the buffer villages where we are planning to sterilise every stray dog,” informed Dr Shukla. “From April, we are first initiating the rabies and ticks vaccination drive in these dogs to avoid spread of any disease through these dogs,” he added. “The Forest Department is conducting such campaign first time in the country. We will capture these stray dogs through nets and also will tranquillise them if required. After vaccinating them, the dogs will be released in their habitats,” said the Deputy Director.

 

“Precaution is better than cure. Eradication of rabies after its spread among wild animals is an impossible task. Therefore, PTR is planning to avoid such situation by vaccinating these stray dogs as precautionary measures,” said Dr Shukla. There are 39 villages in Buffer area in PTR and around 20 villages are situated in territorial area near the Tiger Reserve. The PTR management decided to vaccinate each and every stray dogs from all these 60 villages. “We are equipped with nets, vehicles, and required man power. We are also taking NGOs’ help like People For Animals (PFA), Wardha, to capture dogs and vaccinate them,” said the officer.