The North West Agriculture Department has started to vaccinate livestock in areas including Taung in a bid to curb the spread of rabies in rural areas.
This disease is normally found in wildlife such as jackals and can spread to domestic animals and even humans.
The department says rabies was first identified on farms in Mamusa and has now spread to two areas in Taung.
Animal Control Technician Thataetsile Nneelang says, “Rabies is a highly contagious disease caused by a virus and then this virus infects other animals. For example, when jackals are infected, they will bite other animals; for instance cows – and also goats and sheep and they will also fight with the dogs so that is how it’s spread…and then the dog and cats get infected…and because dogs interact with human beings so that is how it is spread from animals to human beings.”
Western Cape
Last week, the Western Cape Department of Agriculture confirmed a case of rabies in a pet dog in the Capri area of the Southern Peninsula in Cape Town.
State Veterinarian, Dr Vivien Malan, says the infected dog and a younger dog from the same household, which was injured, were humanely euthanised.
Malan says the source of the infection is currently unclear as neither of the dogs in the household had travelled outside the province recently.
In 2021, a rabies outbreak in the Eastern Cape led to two deaths, with poor vaccination by pet owners cited as the reason for the outbreak.
VIDEO| 2021 rabies outbreak in Eastern Cape leaves two dead:
