News / Local
Council to kill stray dogs
13 Nov 2014 at 08:44hrs | Views
The Bulawayo City Council (BCC) has declared war on stray dogs and will at the beginning of next month put down all such pets amid reports of about 15 cases of rabies having been reported in the city.
Sources within council said after receiving reports of rabies, the city fathers in their latest meeting resolved invoking a city by-law empowering the local authority to act on stray dogs, including putting them down.
"There have been about 15 cases of rabies reported at the city's health centres and council is keen to arrest this and the first thing is to control stray dogs," said the source.
The source said under an operation to clean the city, code-named 'Tie-up Order', BCC's Health Department will embark on an operation to rid the city of all stray dogs.
BCC will also attempt to enforce by-laws which allow two dogs per household. Council is also likely to check on the vaccination of dogs.
Rabies is a viral disease transmitted through the saliva or tissues from the nervous system of an infected mammal to another mammal and it attacks the central nervous system causing death.
Rabies kill an estimated 55 000 people annually the world over and exists in every continent although it is most prevalent in Africa and Asia. It is not found in the Antarctica.
Council was also reported to be mobilising residents to 'sell out' on their neighbours with more than the required number of dogs and those found to have flouted the by-laws would be fined between $40 and $500, depending on the gravity of the offence.
Under the same operation, said the sources, the council would also descend on residents who dump their dead pets or dispose of them in unhygienic ways and in open places.
BCC deputy mayor, councillor Gift Banda yesterday confirmed the development which he said was part of an operation to clean the city.
"I am not sure off hand of the rabies figures but we have had those reports and we are descending on stray dogs," he said in an interview.
Sources within council said after receiving reports of rabies, the city fathers in their latest meeting resolved invoking a city by-law empowering the local authority to act on stray dogs, including putting them down.
"There have been about 15 cases of rabies reported at the city's health centres and council is keen to arrest this and the first thing is to control stray dogs," said the source.
The source said under an operation to clean the city, code-named 'Tie-up Order', BCC's Health Department will embark on an operation to rid the city of all stray dogs.
BCC will also attempt to enforce by-laws which allow two dogs per household. Council is also likely to check on the vaccination of dogs.
Rabies is a viral disease transmitted through the saliva or tissues from the nervous system of an infected mammal to another mammal and it attacks the central nervous system causing death.
Rabies kill an estimated 55 000 people annually the world over and exists in every continent although it is most prevalent in Africa and Asia. It is not found in the Antarctica.
Council was also reported to be mobilising residents to 'sell out' on their neighbours with more than the required number of dogs and those found to have flouted the by-laws would be fined between $40 and $500, depending on the gravity of the offence.
Under the same operation, said the sources, the council would also descend on residents who dump their dead pets or dispose of them in unhygienic ways and in open places.
BCC deputy mayor, councillor Gift Banda yesterday confirmed the development which he said was part of an operation to clean the city.
"I am not sure off hand of the rabies figures but we have had those reports and we are descending on stray dogs," he said in an interview.
Source - Zim Mail
