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By Lian Cheng
KUCHING, June 10: Out of the six rabies cases in May, four of them involved dogs whose owners have kept within their house compounds.
This prompted Kuching South City Council (MBKS) mayor Dato Wee Hong Seng to urge all dog owners to vaccinate their dogs and do it annually.
He said there had been a misconception that if dog owners were to just keep their dogs at home, these canines would not be infected by rabies.
“Out of the six positive cases in May, two involved stray dogs, and the remaining were pet dogs.
“How can this be happening? That is because, a lot of times, your dogs are not even vaccinated.
“Don’t think that if you keep your dogs within your house compounds, they will not be infected,” said Wee during the 167th edition of ShallWeeTalk live-streamed on social media today.
He also informed dog owners that vaccination against rabies is only effective if it is done annually.
“You must vaccinate your dogs every year, not just once. It has to be done until the day your dogs pass on,” said Wee.
He said among the positive cases, there were more involving pet dogs who bit their owners.
Among the six cases, he said two happened in areas under MBKS jurisdiction—the RH/Century Hotel area and Jalan Bong Chin.
Both cases, he said, involved stray dogs which had already been removed from the streets by MBKS.
The other four cases happened at Jalan Stephen Yong, Mile 11, Jalan Semaba, and Batu Kawa.
Wee said for the first week of June, only one positive case was reported, while in the second week, an additional case occurred at Persiaran St Paul involving a pet dog. — DayakDaily
