A global vision to wipe out rabies
To date, more than 85,000 dogs have been vaccinated in India as part of the Mission Rabies project.
Forming links between veterinary surgeons in the UK and their international colleagues, has been the theme of Michael Day's year as BSAVA president.
Speaking at a press conference at BSAVA congress, Professor Day said it is "foolish to believe that what happens elsewhere doesn't affect us".
The panel of speakers at the conference included Luke Gamble, who gave an update on Mission Rabies - a project that launched at last year's congress with the aim of vaccinating 50,000 dogs in India against rabies by September 2013.
Prof Day commented that in the UK, we are now seeing the effects of changes to the Pet Travel Scheme (PETS) in 2012, which saw a relaxation of the laws for importing pets from overseas.
Since then, there has been significant concern among the veterinary profession about a rising risk of disease - particularly rabies - from pets imported into the UK.
This is a subject close to Prof Day's heart, with 40 per cent of bites from rabid animals affecting children under the age of 15. Each year, rabies causes 55,000 deaths, predominantly in Africa and Asia.
Sarah Cleaveland from the University of Glasgow said there is a misconception in the health and veterinary sectors that the problem stems from stray dogs. Yet the majority of these animals in Africa are owned - bought as guard dogs and allowed to roam freely, she added.
Prof Cleaveland believes culling these animals "simply doesn't work" and is often inhumane due to the lack of resources in these areas. In fact, she says, culling is actually counterproductive, as people will simply bring dogs in from other areas, promoting the spread of disease.
Due to changes to PETS there are more and more dogs being brought to the UK from these areas, meaning we must remain "vigilant and alert".
However, Prof Cleaveland believes there is no reason why vaccination campaigns cannot eliminate rabies.
To date, the Mission Rabies team have vaccinated 85,423 dogs. Part of the project also involves training vets in India and educating children about rabies and how to avoid dog bites. According to Mr Gamble, 75,400 children have been made "rabies aware" since the launch of the project.
A mobile app specially designed for Mission Rabies stores data about individual dogs vaccinated and neutered during the campaign. The app stores data such as GPS location, gender and ownership of nearly 60,000 dogs.
The next step, Mr Gamble says, is to roll the project out around the world. The latest challenge facing the Mission Rabies team launched on April 1. In six months, the team is aiming to vaccinate and neuter 70 per cent of the dog population in Goa - which equates to 28,000 dogs.
For his work on the Mission Rabies project, Mr Gamble was awarded Charity Professional of the Year at last night's Ceva Animal Welfare Awards.
The BSAVA has opened submissions for the BSAVA Clinical Research Abstracts 2026.
