Loose, muzzleless dogs appear a lot in public places

At the vacant lot next to Tay Ho palace, the People’s Committee of Quang An ward, Tay Ho district, has long posted a sign prohibiting dogs from letting loose and defecating indiscriminately; must wear muzzle, dog leash and be led by someone. The signboard is 1×1.5 m in size, printed in white letters on a prominent blue background, in both Vietnamese and English words, people standing a few tens of meters away can also see it.

However, on the afternoon of April 13, right at the foot of the sign or within a radius of 100 m, about 20 dogs are being let loose and not wearing muzzles. Their owners stand playing games, surfing the web on their phones, or huddled together to talk in a far corner, leaving the dogs free to run around, “socialize” with each other and occasionally defecate. Some people carry muzzles and chains, but hold them in their hands.

Looking at the jet-black dog baring his teeth and sticking out his tongue, Mr. Dao Ngoc Vu shook his head and said: “Early morning and evening, this area must have about 20 dogs, weekends are even more crowded. I often go to the group. education in West Lake, every time at this point, you have to watch out for bad dogs.”

8 km away, at Thong Nhat Park, there are also many dogs of all breeds, domestic and foreign, freely running and jumping next to the groups of people exercising. A few were chained and led from their owners, but without muzzles. On the lawns and paths in the park, there are sometimes dog poop.

“Dogs that are tens of pounds wide open looking very scared, many days when I exercise, I have to avoid them. Dogs also clean indiscriminately, sometimes I am busy talking with my companions, I step on dog feces, very annoyed,” shared Mai Thi Thoa, from Nguyen Du ward, Hai Ba Trung district.

The situation of dogs roaming around, dogs not wearing muzzles appear in almost every flower garden and park in Hanoi. In addition to sweeping fallen leaves and picking up trash, sanitation workers in these areas have long been tasked with cleaning up dog feces. “Every time I can clean this place, another place will appear, every day. Seeing the dog going to the toilet, I remind him and the owner is angry,” said a sanitation worker at Thong Nhat park.

Loose, muzzleless dogs appear a lot in public places

According to the Hanoi Veterinary Department, the total number of dogs and cats in the city is about 460,000, ranking second in the country after Nghe An. Based on the Circular 07/2016 of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on the prevention of animal diseases, since 2018, the Hanoi People’s Committee has required people to register with the government when raising dogs and cats; When taking a dog out in public, the safety of people around must be ensured by wearing a muzzle, a dog leash and being led by someone. Free-range dogs are captured, owners must bear all costs, including feeding and destruction.

Hanoi also set up a team to catch stray dogs since 2018, in some wards, this model has worked well, such as Khuong Dinh, Thanh Xuan district. Mr. Le Ba Mao, the captain of the hunting and hunting of stray dogs of Khuong Dinh ward, said that the team usually patrols from 5:30 to 7 a.m., from 16:30 to 19:00 in the afternoon. At first, when seeing domestic dogs being caught, many people reacted. “After more than 3 years, the number of stray dogs has decreased, many days we go on patrol without any,” said Mr. Mao.

Violating dogs will be brought to Khuong Dinh ward to be kept in captivity, and then broadcast a loudspeaker announcing the search for owners. Usually, there are two violations that are punished, including not vaccinating and letting the dog go on the street, each of which the owner is fined 800,000 VND, Mao said.

However, there are also many wards that have difficulty organizing free-range dogs. Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan, Vice Chairman of Doi Can ward, Ba Dinh district, shared that violators all let their dogs out in the early morning or late at night, outside of office hours, so the working group went to deal with it outside of working hours. “Many cases of stray dogs, when the working group caught them, there was no one to receive them, so the People’s Committee of the ward had to contact the veterinary station to advise and hand them over to suitable adoption points,” said Mr. Tuan.

Advise the city on the plan to prevent rabies in dogs and cats in the period of 2022-2030, in which the establishment of a team to catch stray dogs in all communes, wards and townships, said Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Son, Director of the Veterinary Department Hanoi, indicates another difficulty. Some people like to keep big, fierce dogs, weighing up to 30-40 kg, when they let loose, it will be dangerous for the team on duty. Many dog ​​breeds are several tens of millions of dong, the capture and captive breeding of them also poses many problems because this is a great asset of the people.

From 2019 to now, Hanoi has recorded one case of rabies death, which is very low compared to the whole country. However, with the second largest herd of dogs and cats in the country and the problem of letting dogs loose without muzzles, the risk of unsafety for people is great. Statistics from the Department of Animal Health show that in 2021, the whole country will have 53 deaths from rabies, in 2020 it will be 78. The total number of people bitten by dogs requiring preventive treatment in 2021 is 531,200, of which a part is human. in Hanoi.

At the conference summarizing the National Rabies Prevention and Control Program for the period 2017-2021 in September 2021, the Central Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology said that a total of 377 outbreaks of rabies in the 2017-2021 period had been carried out. is considered the leading cause of death among infectious diseases, except 2014 (measles epidemic), and 2021 (Covid-19). Vietnam aims to control rabies in domestic cats and dogs and strives to have no rabies deaths by 2030.

Pham Chieu