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Colombo.
Sri Lanka has lifted a moratorium on killing stray dogs as the government
attempts to cut down on the 2,000 people that are hospitalized every day after
being bitten, a media report said on Saturday.
Health
Minister Maithripala Sirisena told the Swarnavahini television network that the
government had decided to revert back to destroying strays, a practice
suspended five years ago, because of rabies concerns.
“Clearly
our new policy has failed ...,” Sirisena told the privately run network. “As a
government, we have decided to go back to the previous practice.”
Sri Lankan
law allows the authorities to catch and kill stray animals, but a presidential
order suspended the practice in 2006 following lobbying by animal rights
groups.
But the
health minister said stray dog populations had rapidly increased, to three
million in recent years, and had become a major public health issue in an
island of 20 million people.
Some 2,000
people are hospitalized daily after being bitten by stray dogs, the minister
said, adding that the authorities were spending over $13 million annually to
deal with the problem.
Animal
rights activists said sterilization efforts had failed because of corruption
and mismanagement by public health officials.
“We want
the government to reconsider this decision and ensure a humane treatment of
these animals,” said Sagarika Rajakarunanayake, of the Satva Mithra animal
rights group.
A health
ministry official said the government was going ahead with plans for a
sanctuary for stray dogs in the north of the country, but rights activists said
it was not a practical way to look after stray animals.
They argued
that the sterilisation program should be made more effective along with a
campaign to vaccinate stray dogs against rabies.
Agence France-Presse
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