The EThekwini Municipality has intensified its efforts to raise awareness about pet vaccination across the city, following the tragic death of a dog owner. The man died after being bitten by his unvaccinated dog in the eZimbokodweni area. The dog allegedly showed signs of rabies, including unusual aggression and behavioural changes.
According to investigations by the City’s Communicable Diseases team, the owner was bitten in March but only sought medical attention two months later, when the virus had already spread through his body.
Rabies is a deadly but preventable viral zoonotic disease that spreads through the saliva of infected mammals, including dogs, cats, mongooses, goats, and cattle.
Director of Health in the City, Rosemary Van Heerden, said: “We have already convened two stakeholder meetings with various departments who pledged to support the campaign. As a result, we successfully vaccinated 385 domestic animals—372 dogs and 13 cats during a three-day campaign in the eZimbokodweni area this month.”
Slater Scholtz said he takes his dogs for vaccination annually and sometimes takes them for their boosters. Boosters are vaccination shots given to adult dogs to reinforce their immunity against disease.
Explaining his understanding of rabies, he said: “I know that rabies is a disease that is becoming more common amongst domestic animals, namely dogs, in recent times, and it’s a very serious disease if infected with. It’s important to safeguard yourself from it and protect your animals too by making sure you vaccinate them when they are due. The most important thing I can advise is that even if you vaccinate your animal, it’s the animals around that could potentially be harmful to you as they may not be vaccinated themselves.”
