With a rabies alert having been announced nationwide, "animal lovers" may have become part of the problem, Cheerasak Pipatpongsopon, deputy director-general of the Department of Livestock Development said yesterday, noting that people sometimes are obstacles to disease control as they do not allow officials to capture stray animals.
"There are a lot of stray animals in Bangkok and Nonthaburi and it is very difficult to manage because a lot of people are animal lovers. They feed them and do not allow us to take the animals to shelters," he said yesterday.
"It's time relevant agencies had a discussion about the issue. If people do not allow us to capture stray animals, how can we control disease?" he said, adding that there are 3.4 million stray animals nationwide.
Mr Cheerasak made these comments in the light of Nonthaburi becoming the latest province to be declared a rabies hotspot after an infected animal was discovered.
A radius of 5km from the location where the infection was found will be under epidemic control measures for 30 days from March 6 to April 4.
"We are following the international standards of the World Organisation of Animal Health, if there are any human cases of the disease resulting in deaths in the next two months, the province will be placed in the red zone," he said.
The 13 provinces currently in the red zone for rabies are Surin, Chon Buri, Sumut Prakan, Chachoengsao, Nan, Buri Ram, Ubon Ratchathani, Chiang Rai, Rot Et, Songkhla, Rayong, Tak and Sri Sa Ket.
In these areas, all animals must be vaccinated and all stray animals must be rounded up. Owners who fail to bring their pets in for vaccination are fined 200 baht for each pet, he said.
The department also announced rabies-prone areas in 42 other provinces. Among these, 31 provinces, including Bangkok, have been declared temporary epidemics.
