Evans Family In Zambia: Rabies Clinic

CAUTION- Dog lovers may want to skip ths one.

Today we did a rabies clinic in the village.

For a couple years I and some others have tried and failed to make an organized effort between veterinary officials, myself, the city council, and the people to get the dog problem under control.

And there is a problem. Large groups of dogs roam around the village and the people are very afraid of them. Many evenings we have counted 12 or 15 in a group and been kept up by the fighting and howling throughout the night. Once when sitting in the house I heard Rachel scream the real scream (parents know what I mean) and I came racing outside to see 3 dogs closing in on her at full speed. I arrived just in time to kick a lunging dog away and it remains a terrible memory to me.

While we were away this holiday another girl was not so lucky and ended up in the hospital for 4 days. This prompted an uncoordinated response. The local government began shooting dogs in mass. One problem was they were not very selective and I heard more than one sad story about a pet I had spayed or neutered that was no longer around. About 200 dogs were killed in those few days and one person injured by a stray shot.

Now I am back and everyone is intested in vaccinating dogs though. So I made a plan with the vet officer to do a vaccination clinic of which part one was today.

We started at 8 hours. Gradually people started coming and by 9 we had vaccinated about 15 dogs but the vet officers were not around to write certficates. People waited, the crowd grew and then Doc showed up and began to take care of the paperwork. Once he was there to give the vaccines I was free to start some surgeries. I do spays and neuters on the tailgate of the truck on the village and it draws quite a crowd and I love the sense of accomplishment surgery gives me.

About 25 more vaccines in and 2 or 3 surgeries a gunshot rings out somewhere nearby. By now I have about 30 people and half as many dogs around the truck, some asleep, some drunk with anesthesia and some just hanging around to see what’s going on.

“Guess they decided to shoot some more dogs today?” I ask no one in particular. But it seems I am the only one who noticed. But a few minutes later I hear a group of excited chilren and look up from my spay to see a man in a military uniform shoot a dog about 50 feet in front of me. It is quickly over but as the report of the rifle rings in my ears I have the odd thought of how ironic it would be if I were accidentally shot by this man as I stood here doing dog surgeries.

No one else is really that interested or seems to think this is a wierd day.

So, when in Rome, I keep my head down and keep working. All throughout the morning I spay and neuter and we vaccinate as periodic shots ring out from all around us. I hear no complaints of any vaccinated dogs being shot and so I hope it is only the strays being removed.

By the end of the day we had vaccinated 64 dogs and done 13 surgeries before running out of anesthesia. We go back tomorrow for another round and hope to do more.

I’m sorry for a story that may upset some people. Understand the dogs are a large problem here and rabies is as well. Groups of dogs have been known to kill small children, livestock, and even attack adults at times. I just recently saw a calf that was attacked and then began neurologc symptoms and drooling a week later before it died. I can only suspect rabies from the head and neck bite wounds.

People love their pets, but many more dogs are wilder canine versions here. It was just a crazy weird day for me and I think maybe a good one to write about? Here’s hoping so anyway.

And a thank you to each of you that read this far and support the work here and are part of protecting people from rabies and even trying to improve the lives of the canine family members who don’t have it that easy here either.