Minister for Local Self-Governments M.B. Rajesh said here on Tuesday that many local bodies in the State had already started vaccination drives against rabies.
Though it was decided to hold the vaccination drive from September 20 to October 20, many local bodies started the drive from September 15.
Work on the Animal Birth Control (ABC) centre under the Animal Husbandry department was progressing. The ABC centres managed by Kudumbashree had to stop functioning following a Kerala High Court order. The State had approached the Supreme Court seeking to revoke this order.
The government had sought permission to kill rabies-affected and aggressive dogs. However, this had been misinterpreted and a propaganda was spread against the State saying that the government was trying to kill dogs en masse.
Dog catchers
To address the shortage of dog catchers, Kudumbashree and local bodies had been asked to prepare a list of volunteers. They would be trained at the Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University and livestock centres for nine days.
The ABC programmes would be taken up and the vaccination drive would continue for a longer period, the Minister said.
