The big international
donors don’t nulldonull
animalsnulltheir diseases
are considered
unimportant, even
though rabies kills at
least null,nullnullpeople
around the world
annually.
nullntinued from page nullnull
bitten and then try to get the post-exposure
vaccine to them, or they panic and kill as
many dogs as they can. The human vaccine
costs hundreds of dollars and is nearly impos-
sible to get, while the dog vaccine sells for less
than 10 percent of that cost. Killing dogs often
makes the situation worse as the survivors
fight over territory.
Veterinarians and public health officials
tell me that each Guatemalan rural household
owns, on average, seven dogs. They act as
punk guards while the family is out working
in the fields, or sleeping at night. Naturally,
vicious dogs of uncertain vaccination status
make better guards.
Based on discussions with health work-
ers and veterinarians around the world, I’m
convinced that we need a cultural change in
attitudes towards animals, and for the com-
munities where dogs live to take ownership.
Outsiders cannot solve this but, if we build
trust, we can facilitate, educate, train, motivate
and work alongside people in the commun-
ities. Local animal lovers, who may unwitting-
nulleterinarnull team leanullr Drnull tnull e nulluzminsnulli nullts
ly feed the callejeros, need to be recruited into
some lonullal assistannulle in Tonulls Santosnull Guatemalanull
the programme as volunteers. e W don’t aim to
get rid of all the street dogs. They are, after all,
companions, garbage recyclers, rat controllers
under control and the number of unowned
and community police. The idea is to have a
dogs has dropped. By 2009, about half of the
stable, smaller, healthier population of street
owned male dogs in Todos Santos had been
dogs with identified owners.
examined, vaccinated for rabies and sterilized.
The test case for VWB’s community-based
At the end of the year, we hope to vaccinate
approach in Guatemala is Todos Santos,
and sterilize most of the owned males and
a Mayan town in the mountains north of
females.
Huehuetenango, where tumbledown shacks
e’rW e working with local partners to deal
rub shoulders with California-style houses
with the remaining unowned dogs, and to
built with remittance money. People here care
address the garbage (dog-feeding sites) issue.
about their hometown. Over a period of two
e W plan to participate in local meetings and
years, our volunteers have worked with the
workshops to talk about pet ownership and
mayor, city council and local volunteers to con-
ways to prevent overpopulation.
duct household surveys and street dog studies.
From my hotel, I watch a creamy full moon
e’ve W put up posters, held meetings and made
hovering above the black silhouette of a vol-
radio announcements to encourage people to
cano. The firecrackers punctuate a droning
bring their dogs to the clinics for sterilization
brass band dirge, which plays on and on in its
and rabies shots. The clinics have been held in
almost-in-tune, battered majesty.
community halls, vacant rooms and sometimes
outside, under the trees, in order to make them nullor more information, visit vwbnullvsf.canullnglishnull
accessible. The population of owned dogs is guatemala.shtml.
44 : verge winter 2010
v.null i.2
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