KATHMANDU: As the death toll from dog-bites continuous to mount, experts today demanded that the policy of the government towards the management of stray dogs be made clear. According to Epidemiology and Disease Control Division (EDCD), at least 1,692 people have died across the country from 2000 to 2009 due to dog and fox bites, which invariably transmit rabies.

The government in 2007 had formulated a 20-year 'national strategic plan' to control rabies. Despite this, the problem of stray dogs and dog-bites continue to magnify.

Ganesh Rai, acting executive chief of KMC, acknowledged that the Kathmandu Metropolitan City is facing uphill task in managing stray dogs. He said the campaigns by animal rights activists have overshadowed the issues. “Due to some people and organisations raising animal rights issues, human rights is taking a back seat,” he added.

Dr Bodh Prasad Parajuli, senior veterinary doctor, Veterinary Public Health Office, said the government lacks a flexible legal provision to deal with problems posed by stray dogs to public health. He was addressing a programme organised today by KMC.

According to Veterinary and Epidemiology Centre, around 20,000 stray dogs are vaccinated annually. KMC and its partners have vaccinated around 10,000 stray dogs by the end of September. The vaccination covered 73.4 per cent of the total stray dogs' population, KMC claimed. Further, the EDCD is vaccinating around 30,000 people.

Globally, 50,000 to 70,000 people die, many of them in developing countries, from rabies. Almost half the global population lives in rabies epidemic areas.

"The private-public partnership is a most effective strategy in controlling the rabies," said the senior veterinary doctor, recommending the government for declaring a buffer zone against stray dogs within five-kilometre area of the ring-road.