COIMBATORE: With an estimated 1.11 lakh stray dogs roaming city streets, the Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation (CCMC) has launched a major push to vaccinate all dogs against rabies under the global Mission Rabies initiative.
Mission Rabies, spearheaded by the Worldwide Veterinary Service (WVS), focuses on eliminating dog-mediated rabies through mass dog vaccination, community education, and surveillance. Since its launch in India in 2013, it has seen notable success, especially in Goa.
“We began the initiative two months ago at Race Course. Our goal is to vaccinate every stray dog across all five zones,” said City Corporation Commissioner M Sivaguru Prabakaran. The dog population census, conducted by NGOs, revealed the massive scale of the challenge.
The city plans to roll out a dedicated hotline to report suspected rabies cases among strays and pet animals. Mapping teams will track coverage to ensure no areas are missed.
After completing the stray dog vaccination drive, door-to-door vaccinations for pet dogs and cats will follow to create a rabies-safe city.
To tackle the root of the stray dog problem, the corporation continues its sterilisation efforts through four Animal Birth Control (ABC) centres at Ukkadam, Ondipudur, Seeranaickenpalayam, and Vellalore. So far, about 25,000 dogs have been sterilised since 2023. Plans are underway to establish three more ABC centres.
“Our strategy is twofold: vaccination to eliminate rabies risk and sterilisation to control the population in the long term,” said the Commissioner.