Background

There was a steady increase in the dog population of Sri Lanka over the last decades. The only humane population control programs that were in place were carried out by NGOs. This reached new heights with the 2004 Tsunami where foreign NGOs demonstrated the values of the CNVR- Catch, neuter, Vaccinate and Release concept introduced by WHO.

When His Excellency Mahinda Rajapakse assumed office he was appalled to find that the
means of controlling dogs was through killing mainly on the part of Municipalities. He wanted to stop this abhorrent practice and gave the No Kill Directive in the year 2005 to coincide with the 2550th Buddha Jayanthi. Thought this was a humane and positive move there was a steady rise in the dog population was seen yet again.

In response to this the Minister ofHealthcare and Nutrition, the Hon. Nimal Siripala De Silva allocated Rs 93 million for an island wide humane dog control program through spay/neuter in the year 2008.

The mode of implementation was through the Provincial Health Authority upon the request to submit tenders from teams of vets so inclined. This procedure was advertised in the newspaper.

Response

The team led by Dr Chamith Nanayakkara and Dr Udaya Wijewardane had a substantial amount of experience in field sterilisation programs since the year 2000. A lot of field know how was gained since partnerships were initiated between NGOs and our team. One’particular partnership between the Kandy Association for the Community Protection of Animal Welfare (KACPAW), resulted in a good field model that was cost effective and feasible for a state sponsored program. This model was initially picked up by the Provincial health Director, Central Province and a few programs carried out in the year 2007. The Central province was thus keen to implement this into the future and even a budget was allocated.

When the national program was initiated it was decided to make a bid in several Districts. Preliminary discussions were held with the DDG PHS 1, Dr Palitha Maheepala, before submitting the bid. It was Dr Maheepala’s idea that an apex organization should be initiated to carry out this program islandwide.

Several discussions were held with various vets and they were requested to join in this important national effort. But most were unwilling owing to the low price per sterilisation, as our team was willing to do a spay/neuter at Rs 500/ per dog. Other reasons were also cited as to why they could not join. Also there were not too many vets with field sterilisation experience.

However the challenge was accepted by our team and initially 6 willing and committed young vets were drawn into this effort. All the vets were trained in the small incision method by Dr Udaya Wijewardane. Thereafter an organization was formed by the name of Association of Veterinarians for Humane Management of Animal Populations in support of the government program. Today this Association has 19 full time vets and 6 part time. The Association also has other members who are not part of the government program, but support it when the need arises.

As in any venture the team faced a lot of teething problems, which got resolved through trial and error as well as communication with the relevant stakeholder group and the Ministry of Health.