Yangon officials are making preparations to take a census of the city’s livestock starting at the beginning of next year. And for the first time in recent years, an official census of the city’s stray dogs will also be carried out in an attempt to combat the spread of rabies.
“According to statistics, Myanmar has one of the highest rate of rabies-related incidents in the world. We’re doing this [taking the census] in order to be able to prevent and further combat this disease,” Dr. Than Lwin, head of the East Yangon District’s Livestock Breeding and Veterinary Department explained to 7Day. Once the numbers are collected, the department will be able to propose a budget for a rabies vaccination plan to parliament. There are, however, no plans in place to collect a nationwide survey of stray dogs, a department official told 7Day.
Dr. Than Lwin also confirmed that animal health workers are currently receiving data collection training before they start surveying the livestock in the farms, homes, and streets of each of the different townships. The census is expected to take place in January, 2018, and conclude by the end of February.
According to a Guardian article published earlier this year, existing government figures put the number of stray dogs in Yangon at over 120,000, although many believe that the actual number is much higher. The YCDC regularly carries out mass culls in order to combat the city’s increasing stray dog population and to appease citizens who worry about the spread of rabies, despite widespread criticism that replacing culling with a spay-and-neuter program would be much more effective.
Today, 95% of rabies-related human deaths take place in Asia and Africa. The World Health Organization estimates that approximately 1000 people die of rabies every year in Myanmar, making it second only to India in the region, where approximately 20,000 deaths take place annually.
