• STRAY dogs relax on the street.

By CHUSA SICHONE –
LAST week, a pack of 30 vicious stray dogs attacked nine-year-old Markyfalen Blanko of Luanshya after he had gone on a bird hunting excursion with his two friends.
The fully grown canines of the dogs left the boy with deep wounds on his legs and the back of his head.
Fortunately, Makyfalen, survived after being rescued by passers by who rushed him to Roan General Hospital where he was admitted.
The dogs are said to be part of a pack of 40 dogs roaming the streets of Luanshya.
Recently, a similar incident happened in Lusaka’s Ngwerere area where a boy, who in the company of friends had gone to hunt edible rodents commonly known as Mbeba when five stray dogs attacked and killed him.
In April, 2012, six vicious German shepherd dogs in Lusaka mauled a police officer to death and left his colleague seriously injured.
The dogs pounced on the duo in Zani Muone area when they went to visit their friend around 02:00 hours.
These are some of the few reported cases of stray dogs attacking and infecting human beings with rabies but one cannot dispute that the picture could bigger than this especially rural areas and townships.
However, despite Zambia a law governs the keeping of dogs, the population of stray dogs on the streets looks to be growing.
This could seen from the number of dogs hit by cars and those seen roaming the townships.
According to Control of Dog Act CAP 247 of the laws of Zambia, owners of the dogs are supposed to register them with the council.
Part II, 6 of the Act says; “(1)  Every owner or other person having the custody or control of a dog of the apparent age of three months or over shall register such dog and take out in respect thereof a badge
and certificate of registration as hereinafter provided a Certificate of registration section two states that in respect of dogs which are on the January 1, in any year at the apparent age of three months and over.
Application shall be made for the issue or renewal of a certificate of registration within one month after such date and, in respect of dogs reaching such age between such date and the December 31, next ensuing.
Application for such certificate shall be made within one month after the dog reaches such age.
The Act in Part IV, 20 stipulates that any person knowing or suspecting that any dog- (a) has bitten any person without any apparent cause; or (b) is infected with or suffering from rabies; or (c) has been in
contact with any dog or other animal known or suspected to be infected with or suffering from rabies; shall immediately notify the nearest officer.
The Act allows for the destruction of dogs known to be suffering from rabies.
It is a legal requirement that a dog that bites any person without any apparent cause; or is suspected of being infected with or to be suffering from rabies; or is suspected of having been in contact with any dog or other animal known or suspected to be infected with or suffering from rabies shall either destroy such dog or secure and confine and keep it secured.
Any person having reasonable suspicion that any dog is suffering from rabies may, if such dog is not secured and confined as provided for in these Regulations, destroy suspected rabid dogs.
Lusaka City Council acting public relations manager Habeenzu Mulunda attributed the increase of stray dogs to failure by the owners to provide the pets with adequate food.
“Failure to provide for the dogs allows the pets to fend for food and in the process starts meeting and producing, at the end of the day the population grow,” Mr Mulunda said.
According to the law, residents are only allowed to keep two dogs and keeping more, requires permission from the council.
Dog owners are required to confine their pets within their premises failure to which they attract a penalty of K540 or two years imprisonment or both.
Mr Mulunda said there is need for dog owners to chain their pets during the day and letting them off the leash at night for security purposes
Alternatively, Mr Mulunda advised dog owners to confine their vicious dogs in dog houses during the day before releasing them at night.
He warned vendors who are selling pets on the streets that they are doing so illegally besides subjecting the animals to cruelty treatment.
Mr Mulunda, however, said the council had started the mobile dog registration exercise to encourage more residents to vaccinate and register their dogs with the local authority.
The registration would cover all the seven constituencies in Lusaka and unvaccinated dogs would not be allowed to be registered.
“Registration of dogs is annually done so those who registered their dogs last year (2013) the certificates have expired they need to renew, therefore, for those who are renewing the licenses will be required to pay K45 per dog, first registration K60 per dog and those with more than two dogs K75 each,”  he said
Mr Mulunda, however, complained of inadequate resources to successfully execute the programme.
The council has partnered with the Animal Welfare Society to address the issue of stray dogs.
The Ndola City Council (NCC) has started a programme of eliminating stray dog, registration and sensitising the residents on the law that governs keeping of dogs.
NCC public relations manager Roy Kuseka said the local authority had in July, this year, killed 32 stray dogs while 350 dogs had been registered in Chifubu Township during the ongoing registration and sensitisation exercise.
“We are working on reducing the occurrence of rabies by curbing the dog population in Ndola which stands at over 8,000. From this 8,000,
only 2,300 dogs are registered with Ndola Council,” Mr Kuseka said.
However, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), rabies is a vaccine-preventable viral disease which occurs in more than 150 countries and territories and that infection causes tens of thousands
of deaths every year, mostly in Asia and Africa (about 95 per cent).
About 40 per cent of people who are bitten by suspected rabid animals are children under 15 years of age.
Dogs are the source of the vast majority of human rabies deaths.
Immediate wound cleansing and immunisation within a few hours after contact with a suspect rabid animal can prevent the onset of rabies and death.
Every year more than 15 million people worldwide receive a post-exposure vaccination to prevent the disease; this is estimated to prevent hundreds of thousands of rabies deaths annually.
Stray dogs pose a challenge to society hence the need for combined efforts to ensure that the problem is addressed because it is social and economical problem.