While rabies is often associated with dogs, cats can also be infected by the deadly virus, and that’s especially worrying in Jakarta where stray cats own the city’s streets.
As part of the preparations for the 2018 Asian Games, co-hosted by Jakarta, the government has been rounding up street animals suspected of having rabies in or around important Asian Games facilities, including the Gelora Bung Karno (GBK) Stadium and the Athlete’s Village in Kemayoran. According to officials, cats made up most of the critters that were captured, though there were some dogs as well.
“There were 85 in total made up of 23 dogs and 62 cats. This data is from July 5, 2018 to August 20, 2018. And today we captured two more cats,” Central Jakarta Maritime, Agriculture and Food Security Agency official Hasudungan told state news agency Antara yesterday.
It’s not clear if the cat who recently gained viral fame for running on the GBK track (but under the hurdles, silly kitty) was among those captured.
https://twitter.com/TheCebongers/status/1033969699917156352
The captured street animals were taken to South Jakarta’s Ragunan Zoo. Officials did not specify what fate would meet the animals there, but putting down rabies-infected animals is common practice in Indonesia.
Jakarta was declared to be rabies-free in 2004 but keeping it that way has been a struggle, especially with the overwhelming and often unchecked breeding of stray cats.
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