Owners of cats and dogs in Kwara state, have been advised by the government to vaccinate such domestic animals capable of causing rabies for the safety of the citizens.
This was contained in a statement by the Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Mallam Gidado AbdulLateef Alakawa to commemorate this year’s World Rabies Day.
September 28 of every year is always set aside to raise awareness and advocacy for rabies elimination globally and is coordinated by the Global Alliance for Rabies Control (GARC), supported by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
According to the statement, Rabies is a preventable disease and controlled through vaccination of cats and dogs in our society being the major causes of the disease.
In a bid to eliminate the disease, the state government under the leadership of Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development embarked on a state-wide anti-rabies campaign in July this year.
The theme for this year’s anti-rabies campaign is “One Health, Zero Death”, to highlight the connection of the environment with people and animals.
The statement further enjoined owners of cats and dogs to take the advantage of the ongoing free mass anti-rabies vaccination exercise for their animals, at Area Veterinary Offices across the State and the Ministry’s Headquarters along Old Jebba road, Ilorin, from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm every working days.