CHILE
Chile Becomes First South American Country To Eliminate Dog-Transmitted Human Rabies
Chile has become the first country in South America to receive World Health Organization validation for eliminating dog-transmitted rabies as a public health problem.
It is a significant achievement and an important demonstration of what sustained rabies control can look like.
Chile’s last reported human case of rabies transmitted by a dog was in 1972. More than five decades of prevention have followed, including mass vaccination of dogs, surveillance, laboratory diagnostics, access to post-exposure treatment, public education and targeted dog-population management.
WHO’s validation does not simply mean that Chile has gone without human deaths. The country had to demonstrate that it has surveillance, vaccination, laboratory and response systems capable of preventing dog-mediated transmission from becoming established again.
Free mass vaccination campaigns for dogs and cats remain part of Chile’s national programme.
The wider significance reaches well beyond Chile.
Across parts of the world, fear of rabies continues to be used to justify the removal or killing of free-roaming dogs. Yet rabies is vaccine-preventable. Chile has now provided another large-scale example of what happens when prevention is sustained over decades.
The Americas have reduced human cases of dog-mediated rabies by more than 98% since 1983.
SRI LANKA
Sri Lanka Proposes Mandatory Annual Dog Registration In New Rabies Law
Sri Lanka has gazetted major new legislation aimed at eliminating rabies and changing how the country’s dog population is managed.
The Elimination of Rabies and Registration of Dogs Bill would replace older legislation and create a new framework covering rabies vaccination, dog registration, population control and commercial dog breeding.
Under the proposals, dogs over six weeks old would have to be vaccinated against rabies and registered annually with the relevant local authority. Registration would follow vaccination, with owners paying a prescribed fee and receiving a registration number and certificate.
Local authorities would themselves carry responsibilities for ensuring dogs within their areas are vaccinated and registered.
The legislation has been in development for some time. Cabinet approval was originally given in September 2025 to prepare legislation consolidating the existing Rabies Ordinance and Dog Registration Ordinance. The Attorney General subsequently cleared the draft and Cabinet approved its publication and submission to Parliament.
The important question now is implementation.
Registration can strengthen responsible ownership and help authorities understand owned-dog populations. Vaccination is fundamental to eliminating dog-mediated rabies. Regulation of commercial breeding can also address one source of population growth.
NAMIBIA
Hospital Cat Colony To Be Sterilised Rather Than Removed
A colony of free-roaming cats at Oshakati State Hospital in Namibia is being targeted for sterilisation following complaints about cats entering hospital areas.
The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals says it has received numerous complaints about feral cats at the hospital and has launched a sterilisation intervention aimed at controlling the population.
Crucially, the approach is intended to allow sterilised cats to remain within their familiar environment rather than relying on removal as the primary response.
The issue has gained attention amid reports of cats roaming hospital premises, while similar concerns have been raised at Engela State Hospital, where cats were allegedly seen entering wards and eating from patients’ plates.
There are legitimate hygiene issues when free-roaming animals enter clinical areas. But removing an established cat population without addressing reproduction and the conditions attracting cats can simply create space for other unsterilised animals to move in.
Sterilisation tackles the reproductive part of the problem.
Food waste and access to hospital buildings need to be tackled alongside it.
This is what humane population management should be trying to achieve: solve the problem rather than simply move the animals somewhere else.
UNITED KINGDOM
Government Responds To Calls For National Action On Britain’s Cat Overpopulation Crisis
The UK Government has responded to a petition calling for a national strategy to tackle cat overpopulation and the pressure being experienced by rescue organisations.
The petition calls for expanded access to affordable neutering, support for overwhelmed rescues, responsible-ownership education and measures addressing irresponsible breeding and abandonment.
It passed the 10,000-signature threshold required to trigger a Government response and remains open until February 2027.
In its response on 14 September, the Government pointed to commitments contained in England’s Animal Welfare Strategy to improve understanding of the size, scale and current management practices associated with cat breeding.
It says it will draw on expertise from the sector and consider further measures to improve welfare within cat breeding, while working with animal-welfare organisations and local authorities on regulated and unregulated pet sales.
The response also points to existing community neutering schemes.
But the petition asks for something broader: a national strategy addressing cat overpopulation and the rescue crisis. Those are not quite the same thing.
Understanding breeding practices is useful. Community neutering is essential. Responsible ownership matters. The question is whether those individual measures will ultimately become a coordinated national response to the population pressures that prompted more than 10,000 people to demand action in the first place.
UNITED STATES
San Antonio Puts 24-Hour Pet Microchip Scanners At Fire Stations
People finding lost dogs and cats in San Antonio, Texas, now have somewhere else to check for an owner without immediately taking the animal into the shelter system.
The city has introduced free self-service microchip scanning stations outside eight fire stations, making scanners available to the public 24 hours a day.
The scheme is a partnership between San Antonio Animal Care Services and the San Antonio Fire Department.
A person who finds a dog or cat can safely contain the animal, take it to one of the participating stations and use the scanner to check for a microchip. Instructions are provided for what to do if a chip is detected and how to begin locating the registered owner.
Firefighters are not responsible for performing the scans, and the stations are not animal drop-off points. Animals must not be left unattended.
It is a remarkably simple idea.
One of the problems facing municipal shelters is that animals who are merely lost can enter a system already dealing with genuinely homeless animals.
Every lost dog or cat reunited directly with their family is potentially one fewer shelter admission.
Microchips only work when animals are chipped, registration details are kept current and somebody has access to a scanner.
San Antonio has just made that final part available around the clock.
SINGAPORE
Singapore Introduces Its First Official Standards For Animal Shelters
Singapore has introduced its first official guidelines governing animal shelters, establishing national expectations for the way rescued and sheltered animals should be housed and cared for.
The guidelines were developed by the Animal & Veterinary Service following consultation with animal-welfare organisations and other stakeholders. They cover areas including housing, hygiene, disease prevention, veterinary care, behavioural needs, record keeping and shelter management.
Importantly, the standards are intended to apply across different types of shelters rather than leaving individual organisations to determine entirely for themselves what constitutes acceptable care.
Singapore’s authorities have also reiterated that sheltering is only one part of population management, alongside sterilisation, adoption and programmes intended to manage free-roaming dog populations humanely.
End Of Bulletin