Animal Welfare Trust joins month-long campaign to make city rabies-free

Animal Welfare and Care Services Charitable Trust has joined the nationwide Project Rabies Action Week (RAW), an initiative by Mission Rabies —- Worldwide Veterinary Service (WVS) — as part of the National Rabies Elimination Drive to accelerate efforts towards making India free of rabies.

A press release issued here on Wednesday stated that launched on September 1, the initiative aims to make Amritsar, a world renowned tourist destination and home to the Golden Temple, rabies-free.

The campaign will continue throughout the month as part of the National Rabies Elimination Drive, focusing on large-scale vaccination of dogs and raising awareness within communities. Each vaccination is tracked through the WVS app, which records details of every dog along with GPS location, ensuring systematic coverage, reliable monitoring and robust data on both vaccination and dog population trends. The mission is clear —— to prove that science, not cruelty, is the answer to India’s rabies problem.

Dr Navneet Kaur, founder, AWCS, said the goal was to cover Amritsar’s 40,000 dogs annually to achieve herd immunity and eliminate rabies. She added that rabies is 100 per cent preventable through sterilisation and vaccination, but much of the funds allocated every year for this purpose, falls a victim to irregularities. The campaign aims to set an example for other Indian cities on how humane, science-backed solutions can safeguard both people and animals.