In temperatures that often top 100°F, with supplies so limited that teams have to endure a half day's labor without water, Humane Society International disaster relief workers in Sri Lanka are nonetheless forging ahead with an innovative program to spay, neuter, and vaccinate animals in the areas affected by the December 26 tsunami.
You could say the workers are, in a sense, operating at gunpoint.
In Arugam Bay, where the predominantly Muslim community has conflicting feelings about dogs (the Koran doesn't explicitly call them unclean animals, but neither does it embrace them), the Sri Lankan military has said that it is poised to launch an eradication campaign against thousands of homeless canines if there is a single outbreak of rabies. HSI disaster veterinary disaster teams are specifically there to ward off that threat, and HSI executives have already agreed to extend the teams' stays in Sri Lanka for an undetermined period.
Now in its four week, the vaccination/sterilization program is still the main weapon being aimed at curbing an outbreak of rabies in a country already ravaged by death and destruction. Led by Dr. Eric Davis, director of our Rural Area Veterinary Services, the Sri Lanka team completed its first round of surgeries and vaccinations in the nation's Western province, holding clinics in the towns of Kalutare and Moratuwa, south of the capital, Colombo. These are areas where a large number of stray dogs have fled, each looking for a handout from people whose economy has taken a sharp dip.
Along with Lloyd Brown, a member of The HSUS's National Disaster Animal Response Team, Davis has been working with a local group, KACPAW, as part of a multinational, multi-organizational effort to vaccinate dogs in Sri Lanka, both in the western province and in Arugam Bay in the eastern part of the country. Their mandate is clear: Bring the homeless dog population under control or the army will launch into lethal action. The only reason the military hasn't already started feeding poison to dogs in Arugam Bay, says HSI Executive Director Neil Trent, is because HSI gave army officials written confirmation that we would launch a sterilization and rabies program in the area.
The Importance of International Cooperation
Davis has shared the operating tables not only with veterinarians Rai Arniasih and Komang Sudiati of Bali Street Dogs Foundation from Indonesia, but also with volunteer vets from Pet V Care, a Sri Lankan organization. Together, they have sterilized several hundred dogs and some cats, mostly in the eastern area. Their work so impressed a man from the Western region, who had brought his two dogs to be sterilized, that he volunteered to work with the team at the clinic at Aragum Bay.
The work with the Pet V Care veterinarians is, in particular, critical to the long-term success of these dogs in Sri Lanka, a country that has not had many qualms with killing canines when the animals proved to be inconvenient. "We feel that it is essential to integrate the local vets into our program," said Sudiati of Bali Street Dogs. "Otherwise, who will carry on the work once we are gone?"
The question is valid in this country of nearly 20 million people, many of whom are still trying to piece their lives back together after the devastating tsunami. If some of these residents had ill feelings toward dogs before the disaster, those feelings have only intensified after the tsunami. But part of HSI's goal, notes Trent, has not only been to save the dogs, but also to educate the community about safer, more effective, and more humane approaches to dog population management.
To that end, Sherry Grant, director of HSI's Asia office, has been meeting with Sri Lankan officials about the benefits of spay/neuter and vaccination campaigns vs. out-and-out eradication programs. As she has told everyone who will listen in Sri Lanka, killing campaigns never succeed because they never catch all the dogs, who immediately flee at the first sign of danger. This only causes dogs to populate other areas, where they continue to breed and pose dangers.
By contrast, vaccinating dogs will prevent the spread of rabies, while sterilizing the animals will prevent them from breeding. "Sterilizing animals also makes them better companions, quieter and less aggressive," says Trent. "And, of course, the best part is that the dogs are spared a completely unnecessary death."
View from the Bay
For the foreseeable future, the HSI team will remain based in Arugam Bay, a small beach-side town 300 kilometers east of Colombo. Dave Pauli, director of The HSUS Northern Rockies Regional Office, and Susan Monger, a veterinarian with RAVS, recently replaced Davis at the field clinic in Arugam Bay, which is currently handling an average of 40 dogs a day. Brown will stay on to help with animal captures.
This is a community quite pleased to see the HSI team in action. Arugam Bay, after all, relies heavily on tourism, mostly surfers from around the world who ride the region's legendary breaks. Shop owners and hotel workers in the area have been thankful to receive HSI's assistance, in hopes to recover their devastated tourism industry. Many have commented on the effect that an uncontrolled dog population can have on tourism. "The dogs sometimes swarm the area, fighting or copulating. That is not a good environment for tourists," said the manager of the once pristine Tri Star Hotel.
The HSI team has been working hard to calm both nervous residents and hungry, agitated dogs. But their work hasn't been easy. Arugam Bay has been cut off from the Sri Lankan mainland ever since the tsunami wiped out the main bridge; with the assistance of the Canadian army, the team has been able to ferry in regular provisions and materials, including all-important water and medicines.
Their collective efforts are clearly visible to citizens and officials alike: Every vaccinated and sterilized dog gets a red collar. And every red collar is one less reason for the military to step in and begin rounding up the pooches.
But Trent warns not to take anything for granted. "It's important to remember that, despite our best efforts, there are no guarantees here," he says. "When we all leave, we have no guarantee that these dogs will be spared."
