Hanoi to catch unattended dogs to fight rabies

By Tat Dinh   November 27, 2018 | 10:35 pm PT
Hanoi to catch unattended dogs to fight rabies
Three dogs stroll inside a Park in Hanoi's Hai Ba Trung District. Photo by VnExpress/Tat Dinh
Hanoi is set to hire dogcatchers to round up stray and unattended canines as part of efforts to combat rabies.

Nguyen Ngoc Son, head of the city's Animal Health Department, said: "The team will be equipped with vehicles and specialized tools and patrol [the city]. Dogs infected with rabies will be put down, while healthy ones will be taken to a pound where their owners can come and collect them."

Besides preventing the spread of rabies, the city also seeks to educate people on how to raise dogs properly, ensuring the safety of people, according to the department.

The dog wardens will hit the streets starting next year.

A law enacted last year requires dogs to be muzzled, chained and attended to by their owners in public. Violations attract fines of VND600,000-VND800,000 ($26-34). Several cities have since hired dogcatchers, including Saigon and Hanoi itself.

In November nine wards in Hanoi’s Thanh Xuan District set up quick-response teams to catch unattended dogs in the area. Nine dogs have been rounded up so far and fines of VND6.2 million ($264) have been collected from their owners.

"If the owner does not come and get their dog back within 72 hours, the [animal] will be put down," Mai Thi Lan Huong of the district's animal health office said.

Rabies killed 67 people in Vietnam in the first nine months this year, according to the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology.

 
 
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