A free mass rabies vaccination is on a roll this season to spread awareness about the Republic Act 9482 or the Anti-Rabies Act of 2007 and to make MIMAROPA Region rabies-free by 2020.
The activity was named one time big time which was initiated through a concerted effort of MiMaRoPa Veterinarians with the support from Department of Agriculture -Bureau of Animal Industry (DA- BAI) and Department of Agriculture- MiMaRoPa (DA- MiMaRoPa) Livestock program.
It is a six leg event where veterinarians and vaccinators from the BAI and different Animal Rescue Centers from different provinces of the region were convened for a week in each scheduled area to conduct a mass vaccination and promote responsible pet ownership.
The first leg of the big event happened on March 4-8 in the province of Romblon where there were 13, 469 dogs and cats vaccinated. In its 2nd leg in Oriental Mindoro on April 1-5 the group were able to vaccinate 9,682 dogs and cats, while in the 3rd leg in Occidental Mindoro that happened on April 8-12 they vaccinated 7,516 dogs and cats. This June 17-21 and 24 to 26 in Puerto Princesa City and Roxas and Narra, Palawan, where the 4th and 5th leg happened, 20,013 dogs and cats were vaccinated.
To date, the program reached their 70% target of the total recorded population of dogs and cats in the mentioned provinces. This July 22-26 will be the last leg that will be held in the province of Marinduque.
Aside from free mass vaccination, volunteer veterinarians also held free neutering to aid in controlling animal population especially strays that are mostly carrier of the disease. Free operations for animals with special cases such as tumour and hematoma were also done in the leg of activities.
The provincial veterinary offices of the provinces will monitor the development of this activity to ensure that there will be no more rabies incidences in their area.
DA-MIMAROPA sends its gratitude to all the veterinarians and vaccinators from BAI, Provincial and Municipal Veterinary Office, Barangay Health Workers, and to all the pet owners who cooperated for a successful event.