KUCHING, April 11 — The Sarawak Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SSPCA) will be conducting its Free Rabies Vaccination Campaign across Kuching this month to help protect both pets and the wider public.

SSPCA in a Facebook post said oral rabies vaccines (ORV) have also been deployed for stray dogs as part of ongoing field efforts to curb rabies in the community.

“Over the past 2 days, our team has been on the ground in the Padawan area, undergoing training and deployment to safely administer Oral Rabies Vaccines (ORV) to stray dogs.

“This allows us to reach dogs that are harder to catch, strengthening overall rabies control in the community,” the society said.

SSPCA also stressed that ORV is not for public handling or administration to pets.

“It must be deployed by trained personnel, as each vaccine is tracked and recorded through a dedicated system once consumed by free-roaming animals.

“For owned pets, it is still best to bring them to a vaccination point for a standard rabies injection to ensure proper protection,” it said.

SSPCA will hold weekend dog vaccination sessions on Saturday and Sunday from 9am to 4pm at Batu Kawa Riverbank Park and SJK Chung Hua Syn-San-Tu.

The following weekend, sessions will be held at Balai Raya RPR Batu Kawa and Balai Raya Desa Wira, also from 9am to 4pm.

In addition, weekday oral vaccination street operations will begin next Monday until Wednesday from 7am to 10am, and continue from 4pm to 6pm in the Batu Kawa and Desa Wira areas.

The same schedule will be repeated the following week in the same locations.

SSPCA has urged the public not to feed stray dogs during morning operations on selected dates, adding that feeding may resume as usual after 10am.

Meanwhile, the Padawan Municipal Council held an ORV briefing and training programme on Friday to strengthen rabies control efforts in the state.

About 5,000 ORV baits have been procured by the government for the programme and are currently stored at the Sarawak Infectious Disease Centre under strict cold-chain conditions. — The Borneo Post