Wednesday, September 12, 2007 Dog walk marks World Rabies Day By Ben O. Tesiorna
CLOSE to 50 dogs from all kinds of breed owned by people from all walks of life joined the inaugural celebration of the World Rabies Day in Davao City on September 8.
The celebration with the theme "Working Together to Make Rabies-Free Philippines" was spearheaded by the Department of Agriculture in cooperation with the City Veterinarian's Office and the different canine clubs here in the city.
Among the canine clubs that participated in Saturday's dog walk were the Davao Labrador Retriever Club (Labr-adore), Golden Retriever Club, Davao Canine Sports Club, and the dogs from the 911 Emergency Action Center and the Special Anti-Terrorist Unit of the Davao City Police Office.
Rafael Mercado, chief of the livestock division of the DA and regional rabies control coordinator, said September 8 is declared as World Rabies Day and will be celebrated annually all over the world from now on.
Mercado said their mission now is to create awareness among the people on the danger rabies poses to public health. He said they aim to make the Philippines rabies-free by year 2020.
It was learned that countries like the United States of America, Canada, Australia, and other European countries were declared rabies-free for some time now.
Mercado said that here in the Philippines they are starting their vigorous campaign in small but populated islands. He said the islands of Camiguin, Guimaras, and Boracay were already declared rabies-free.
In the Davao Region, the Island Garden City of Samal is on the verge of being declared rabies-free once a monitoring of the island is completed.
Mercado admitted though that making the country rabies-free is no small task. He said they started their rabies eradication campaign 10 years ago and yet they still have a long way to go to complete their mission.
Asked what is the best move to eradicate rabies incidents in the country, Mercado said there are only two things that must be religiously followed by dog owners to achieve such.
One is responsible pet ownership. Second is the strict observance on the rabies vaccination of their pets so as to prevent rabies.
"Kung gagawin lang yan ng lahat ng pet owners ay tiyak na wala tayong magiging problema sa rabies," Mercado said. (If pet owners do all these, we won't have any problem with rabies.)
And just how prevalent is rabies in the region? Mercado said that in 1994, they have recorded a 54 percent rabies rate on the number of dogs sent to them for diagnosis. He said the incidence rate have decreased to 14 percent in 2000.
This year though, Mercado said they have already diagnosed 23 percent of all the dogs sent to their office since January until August as rabid.
He said the most number of rabies incidents were recorded here in Davao City. It is for this reason, Mercado said, that they are going to bring their campaign down to the barangays where most of the stray and rabid dogs are located.
Aling Laneta and her puppy
Among those who joined the dog walk was Aling Laneta and her old male puppy Jackielyn. Aling Laneta said she had another dog, female named Jomar, who died after a vehicle ran over her. Her third dog, whose name she could not anymore recall, was stolen from her.
Aling Laneta said she joined the celebration to avail of the free anti-rabies injection for her Jackielyn. She said she loves her dog so much as it gives her the endearment she doesn't normally get from the people she meets along the way.
Several askals (asong kalye) were seen joining the celebration but most of the dogs present were pure breeds like Labrador, Golden Retriever, Poodle, Pitbull, German Shepherd, Belgian Malinois, and Dalmatian.
Regardless of breed, all of the pet owners present were obviously enjoying the celebration along with their favorite pets. As one participant said, the breed of one's dog is immaterial, what is important is how you take care of your dog.
The participant said the problem on rabies lies not on the dogs per se but on the owners who fail to perform their duties to their pets.
