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BY BOY RYAN ZABAL
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Wednesday, April 26, 2017
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KALIBO, Aklan – There are 50,491 dogs in Aklan in 2016, according to the Office of the Provincial Veterinarian.
This number is bigger than human populations in some municipalities.
The 2016 canine population in the province is equivalent to 10 percent of the human population.
There are 7,282 dogs in this capital town, 5,774 in Banga, 4,058 in Numancia, 4,057 in Batan, 3,983 in Ibajay, 3,615 in Malay, and 2,385 in New Washington.
Dog population all over the province is bigger than human populations — based on the 2015 census — in Ibajay (49,564) and New Washington (45,007), and the island resort Boracay (32,267).
Current dog population in the Philippines is at around 11.6 million.
Efforts are being made countrywide to eliminate stray dogs, which are common sources of the rabies virus, in humane ways.
Meanwhile the Office of the Provincial Veterinarian urged pet owners to have their dogs vaccinated against rabies.
Thirty-five percent of Aklan’s dog population was vaccinated against rabies in 2016. But this figure is below the 70-percent world target.
Mass vaccination is “cost-effective, humane and sustainable,” according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
As more dogs get vaccinated, fewer animal bite victims get the disease, and this can greatly reduce the demand for the costly human vaccines for postexposure treatment, said the WHO.
The Philippines ranks fourth in the world in terms rabies-related human deaths. (Aklan Forum Journal/PN)
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