Uttarakhand: Stray dogs will be vaccinated

Dehradun: Stray dogs in villages falling within two kilometre of the boundaries of Corbett Tiger Reserve in Uttarakhand will be vaccinated against canine distemper virus, so that the disease does not infect the reserve’s tigers and elephants. Corbett Tiger Reserve (CTR) director Saket Badola said the vaccination drive will be carried out as part of a central government-funded pilot project for better health of wildlife.

Canine distemper is a contagious and serious disease that attacks the respiratory, gastrointestinal and nervous systems of dogs. Badola said the drive will boost forest and wildlife management in Uttarakhand and help conserve both tigers and elephants. It is a project of the National Himalayan Study Mission of the Government of India, the CTR director said, adding that the project aims to work on ways to improve the health of the country’s wildlife.

He said that along with the reserve, the veterinary department of the Uttarakhand government and the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) located in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh will jointly examine and vaccinate stray dogs in the villages within two kilometers of Corbett’s boundary. In this, the IVRI team will take blood samples of the dogs and check the prevalence of canine distemper virus in them. Badola said that the Center has sanctioned Rs 2.7 crore for this project for a period of three years.