Kathmandu, April 20 The Kathmandu Metropolitan City’s Public Urban Health Division with support from Humane Society International and Jane Goodall Institute today initiated Nepal’s first dog population management programme, declaring Singha Durbar the first dog-managed zone. The programme ‘One Health’ dog management programme was launched in the presence of Minister for Livestock Development Shanta Manavi, KMC executive chief Rudra Singh Tamang, HSI president and CEO Dr Andrew Rowan and JGI president Sarbendra Pacchai, at Singha Durbar. HSI is providing technical and partial financial support, along with JGI, to the KMC for this three-year programme, which aims to sterilise and vaccinate at least 80 per cent of the street dogs. To complement sterilisation and vaccination, a comprehensive educational awareness programme will be run at the community-level. In the first phase of the programme, the Singha Durbar premises was declared the first dog-managed zone, wherein all the dogs will be sterilised and vaccinated, collared, microchipped and well-groomed. “An increasing number of dogs are being abandoned. They are left without shelter and are vulnerable to diseases. Initiatives like these will not only benefit the dogs but also the community,” said Minister Manavi. KMC chief executive Tamang said, “It is indeed a monumental moment for us. We hope this project can improve the lives of street dogs. The project will also improve the health of the local people.” “I am happy that Nepal is the next South-Asian country to launch a street dog population management program after Bhutan and many cities of India. Humanely managing street dog population through sterilisation and vaccination is known to improve the health of dogs and also bring down rabies cases. After successfully working to assist quake relief efforts, HSI is happy to implement this programme,” said Dr Rowan. In a dog population survey conducted by HSI in March 2016, it was found that there were approximately 22,000 street dogs in Kathmandu. The project will use humane dog catching methods, follow high-quality pre and post-operative norms and manage a detailed database of dogs that go through sterilisation and/or vaccination over a period of three years.