A week-long rabies prevention and animal care programme has begun in Anuradhapura, targeting the anti-rabies vaccination of 4,000 dogs, the sterilisation and vaccination of 525 more, and the training of 50 dog vaccinators, the Daily Mirror reported.
The Anuradhapura World Rabies Day Initiative runs from September 21 to 28 — closing on World Rabies Day itself, marked globally on 28 September.
What the week contains
The programme is led by North Central Province Provincial Commissioner Ruwan Wijesinghe, with the Anuradhapura Municipal Council and the Department of Animal Production and Health (DAPH). It is organised by Vets For Future (VFF) and supported by the Association of Companion Animal Practitioners Sri Lanka (ASCAPSL).
| Dates | Activity |
|---|---|
| Sept 21–27 | Seven-day sterilisation and vaccination drive (525 dogs) |
| Sept 25–27 | Dog Vaccinator Training Programme (50 trainees) |
| Sept 26–27 | Mass anti-rabies vaccination, 11 vets, 4,000 dogs |
| Sept 28 | Award ceremony, Kekirawa Pradeshiya Sabha |
Around 15,000 awareness leaflets will be distributed, and a schoolchildren’s drawing competition will run under the theme “Dog is Man’s Best Friend”.
VFF Director Dr. Chamith Nanayakkara said rabies elimination could not be achieved by a single organisation, and required cooperation among government authorities, veterinary professionals, local authorities and communities.
Why the drive targets the areas it does
The Daily Mirror reports the sterilisation component will particularly target areas where previous Catch-Neuter-Vaccinate-Return (CNVR) activity had been conducted, focusing on newly matured dogs, new litters and animals missed by earlier rounds. It does not say why.
A five-year evaluation of that exact Anuradhapura CNVR programme, published in Veterinary World in July 2026 and available via PubMed Central, supplies the answer — and it is a matter of geography, not effort.
The study found the programme worked: free-roaming dogs needing sterilisation fell from 1,368 in 2021 to 484 in 2025, and more than 78% of adult female dogs were sterilised. But a 2025 survey of 1,123 owners exposed an edge:
- Inside the municipal boundary, annual vaccination coverage was 74.2%
- Outside it, annual coverage was 68.9%
The World Health Organization sets 70% as the coverage needed to maintain herd immunity in dog populations. Anuradhapura city clears that line; the ring around it does not. The study concluded that geographic location — not the number of dogs per household — explained most of the variation, and identified low-coverage pockets needing targeted work.
Counting dogs vaccinated at least once, coverage reads far better — 94.2% inside and 83.1% outside — but rabies immunity requires annual boosters, and it is the annual figure that falls short.
The study also records the programme’s unusual origin: dog population management in Anuradhapura was delegated to VFF — formally the Association of Veterinarians for Humane Management of Animal Populations — by the Health Ministry’s Public Health Veterinary Service in 2020, following a public nuisance complaint by the chief priest of Ruwanwelisaya.
The national frame
Sri Lanka is working to a 2030 rabies elimination target, aligned with the WHO-backed “Zero by 30” goal. Deaths have fallen from more than 370 a year in the 1970s to roughly 14 annually — but 20 people had already died of rabies by July this year.
The drive also lands while a bill making dog registration mandatory, with a Rs. 2,000 fine for non-registration, sits before the public. Dr. Nanayakkara has been among the more prominent veterinary voices in that debate — though when he spoke on it five days ago he was described as founder of the Veterinary Association for Animal Catch Management through Psychological Methods, not as VFF Director. Same vet, two affiliations.
Not reported
The Daily Mirror does not give the programme’s cost or funder, the size of Anuradhapura’s current free-roaming dog population, how many of the 4,000 vaccination targets are owned versus free-roaming, or whether the drive extends beyond the municipal boundary into the very zone the research identifies as under-covered. Nor does it say what the 50 new vaccinators will do after the week ends.
