Anti-rabies operation: Stray dogs will be removed

KUCHING, April 18 (Bernama) – Any stray or free-roaming dogs sighted will be targeted for removal during the Anti Rabies Operation, said Deputy Chief Minister, Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah.

He said, there will be no exemption in the fight to eradicate the deadly sickness.

“The fight is against rabies, it is not against the pet dogs. We have to remove the strays and to get more pets vaccinated.

“During the coming operation, those dogs that are kept within the owner’s house compound will not be affected," he said.

Uggah, who is also chairman of the state Natural Disaster Management, said on allegations that some operation teams had entered houses to tranquilise dogs, the investigations had been done.

“But what was actually happening was that the dogs were tranquilised by the roadsides.

"They escaped into people's homes, members of the team then entered to retrieve the carcasses. There is, in place, the SOP on how the operation should be strictly done," he said.

He added, in the Kuching operations, team members would have to get signed permission from house owners to retrieve any targeted dogs that had escaped into any house compound.

The next operation will be carried out in Kuching district beginning on April 22 to May 2.

--BERNAMA