The importance of Animal Birth Control for animal and human welfare

The importance of Animal Birth Control for animal and human welfare:

Since 2002, Karuna Society for Animals and Nature and our neighbor society IA&BWS at Guttur together are successfully implementing the ABC/AR program in the rural areas of South Anantapur District.

Up to September 2008, we have performed 5638 ABC operations on dogs, 136 on cats and 6723 A.R. vaccinations.

In rural areas, rabies is a bigger problem for cattle, dogs, goat, sheep than for human beings. We conduct ABC up to a distance of 100 km from our clinic and we cover bigger towns like Dharmavaram, Hindupur, Penukonda, Gorantla, Kothacheruvu, Bukkapatnam, Puttaparthi and all villages in between. Now we are starting in Anantapur town. Both our societies have covered the South of Anantapur district by working continuously over several years.

We always work in a defined area and make sure all females are sterilized and then we cover the surrounding villages to prevent new females from entering.

To view more pictures click here.

ABC surgeries are conducted in our new ABC operation theatre donated by “Friends of Karuna” and “Zutphense Dierenbescherming” from Holland. Every six months a new veterinary doctor from Holland comes for voluntary service sponsored by the above society.

Post-operative care rooms have been donated by The Marchig Animal Welfare Trust, Scotland.
Background information on ABC/ARV projects

India is one of the many countries with an open garbage system. Where there is food available, there will be stray dogs and other animals. Every year app. 16,000 people die in India due to Rabies caused by dog bites. To control the dog population the government took to massive killing of strays, without achieving the desired result as the remaining dogs multiplied very quickly due to the availability of food (garbage).

In areas where dogs were eliminated there was an increase of rats, monkeys, mosquitoes, etc. This causes many more diseases than just rabies.

Thanks to Mrs. Maneka Gandhi and the hard work of many AWO, the government decided to control the stray dog population and incidents of rabies through Animal Birth Control and Anti Rabies Vaccination.

The starting point in stray dog control has to be the removal of the food source i.e. garbage. Without this the stray dog control program cannot be totally successful.

Municipalities, Health departments are the primary responsible parties/offices for any rabies case/death as the main cause is the irregular and improper clearing of garbage. Corruption on all levels is part of the failing results.

The dogs are not guilty and, are in themselves, not responsible for their reproduction. Stray dogs are a product of a society with an open garbage system, supplying too much food. Responsibility and decisions about stray dogs control and Rabies has to be placed first and foremost where it belongs: on our society, where prevention is failing.

Without this awareness, stray dog control is a lost cause with much suffering, cruelty and diseases for human beings and animals alike. If an ABC project is taken up and the number of dogs has to be reduced quickly, MAINLY FEMALES should be operated and AR vaccinated. The reproduction has to stop. After completion of the female ABC, the remaining males have to be neutered and vaccinated. Regular inspection of the area should be conducted in order to check for new unsterilized females that may have entered the area.

At the same period, medical care has to be given to sick and injured animals and suspected Rabies cases have to be dealt with.

No females with pups should ever be taken from the road or pups separated from their mother, except for treatment. The female should be sterilized once the pups have been weaned of the mother. After a few months the female pups, that are now young dogs, should be sterilized as well.

Medical care is equally important because every dead animal leaves a territory open for a new dog. For this reason, we do not believe in euthanasia for sick/disabled dogs (except for Rabies and in cases of extreme suffering). When too many dogs are euthanized in one area, it will have the same effect as the regular killing. It creates space for the next generation and more food will be available.

In some big cities, the animal welfare organization (AWO) conducting ABC is obliged to sign a contract with the local municipality stating that 25% of the dogs will be euthanized.

ABC cannot become an indirect way to kill dogs under the pretext of euthanizing rabid and terminally ill or aggressive dogs. India should not identify with the foreign mentality that dogs can be euthanized if they have no owner or no one to look after. India has a different history and ethics about free or stray humans and animals.
The quality of the ABC procedures:

Required is:
A-septic Surgery
A responsible educated management
Post operative care and AR vaccination
A-septic surgery:

Aseptic surgery requires a veterinary doctor, who maintains his sterile procedures.

Every surgery requires new sterile gloves and a new sterile set of instruments (is included in the cost) as diseases are otherwise transferred from one dog to the other.

A-septic surgery is necessary, as the death of an ABC dog caused by infections is a loss of money and effort (apart from the suffering we have caused). The cost of one sterilization is about Rs.560/-.

The death percentage in our project is less than half percent and is only due to unknown illness in the dog or allergy to anesthetic. In all cases of death post mortem is conducted.
Responsible, educated management:

The management has to take the full responsibility for the a-septic surgery by the veterinary surgeon, the training of staff in dog handling and training of an operation assistant who can secure the quality and sterility, for the surgeon, of all instruments and the operation room. Training has to be on the same level as of the human hospital operation room and sterilization procedures.

(It happens in some places that a doctor operates a whole day = + 20 dogs with one sterile set and one pair of gloves. The management is responsible for these “cost saving” procedures).
Post operative care:

Karuna Society still keeps the females for 5-6 days, as we do not believe in “same day release”. To release them directly, on the street, after surgery is cruel as the chances are very high that the animal will be chased around, attacked, catch an infection or has to fight for its food, etc. For a female, ABC is a major surgery and a trauma. Also, we do not believe that there can be any follow up or control after “same day release”, no organization has time for that nor does it care as the numbers of ABC operations are most important for the funds to come in.

Our view is that a healthy female, sterilized, fully recovered and vaccinated is a very valuable asset in the neighborhood and, over time, the dogs will become more like community dogs without people having a reason to fear them. Especially when in our area the project is finalized with male AR vaccinations and general medical care for sick/injured animals, when people know where to bring their sick dogs, more suffering can be relieved and animals will again be part of “us” living together.
Results of an effective ABC program:
Sterilized dogs will defend their territory and prevent new animals from entering the area
No more fights for a female in heat
No more noise at night and less dog bites
No more bites from females defending her pups
No more sick, malnourished or abandoned puppies wandering the streets or dying of accidents.
Conclusions:

Garbage Management, by the Government and the municipalities together with a-septic ABC + AR, is the only humane answer to control stray dog population, bring down the number of human rabies deaths and to improve animal welfare as well as human welfare.

Veterinary Colleges should take up ABC in the area of the college as an example and stray animals should be included in the country’s veterinary care.

AR vaccinations should be freely available at all the Veterinary Hospitals, as in rural areas mainly cattle, sheep, dogs, goats are victims of Rabies; and this affects the lives of farmers.