Reducing Rabies in Vietnam or Not?

The Vietnamese Government is introducing a project to try to reduce the risk of rabies in the country through much stricter dog control. Although I agree, of course, with their effort to reduce this fatal disease, the wording in the report I read (here) implies that all dogs must have an owner and that any stray or street dog should be caught by local authorities and euthanized if not claimed within 72 hours.

Unless all unowned dogs are removed, which is very unlikely to be achieved, then removing some from the streets may actually make the situation worse by encouraging movement within the wider dog population as dogs from elsewhere wander into dog-free areas. In this way the rabies virus itself becomes more mobile. A far better tactic is vaccination, which also happens to leave the traditional unowned village dog lifestyle intact.

When it comes to stray dogs there is far too much over-reaction and far too many misdirected, overly ambitious showcase projects.

Learn more about the lives and issue of unowned dogs in my e-book ”A Stray View” available from Bangkok Books (readable as .pdf on any computer)