Some 300 dogs, many of them newborn puppies inside the Nepal government’s central secretariat complex in Kathmandu, have been left without much food since the nationwide lockdown came into effect more than a month ago.
After reports of canine deaths in the premises, the Kathmandu Animal Treatment (KAT) Centre got a permit from the CDO to inspect the condition of the community dogs inside Singha Darbar.
“They were hungry and scared. They wouldn’t even eat unless we went away,” said Basu Parajuli of KAT Centre about his experience this week. “They were used to staff, and not being around people for so long has affected them. It seems the lockdown has a psychological impact on the dogs.”
The 9-member team from KAT Centre reached Singha Darbar on Thursday afternoon in two canine ambulance vans equipped with dog food, chicken rice and found dogs huddled close by the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology and the National Reconstruction Authority.
The KAT Centre was able to identify four dogs with transmissible tumours, and was able to catch one of them to take away for treatment. Others were fed outside the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock.
“There was a meeting at the Home Ministry, and the staff and officials requested us to visit every day to feed the dogs and we will continue to do so throughout the lockdown,” says Parajuli.
KAT Centre now is planning to spay the dogs in order to control their rapidly growing population inside Singha Darbar as well as vaccinate the puppies against infections.
There has been concern about transmission of the COVID-19 from the canine to humans. So far two pet dogs have tested positive in Hong Kong and a two and a half year old pug in North Carolina in the US. But there has been no evidence that dogs can transmit the virus. Veterinarians say that for now people have to be more worried about rabies from dogs, and coronavirus from other humans.
Elsewhere in Kathmandu, dogs have been showing abnormal behaviour, and have been unusually aggressive. “I was repeatedly chased by dogs in the main intersections as I walked from Chapagaon, and they were barking and running after motorcycles which they never used to do,” says Hari Ghimire, who works as a security guard in a city school.
Says veterinarian Bidur Tiya at the KAT Centre: “We don’t have to be afraid of dogs. We should all do what we can from our side to feed community dogs during the lockdown.”
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