The death of a 14-year-old girl in Buri Ram from rabies, the sixth fatality caused by the disease this year, has set off alarm bells telling the authorities that it's time to get serious about managing stray cats and dogs as well as regulating pet owners.
Several ideas have recently been floated, including taxing pet owners, vaccinating and sterilising stray cats and dogs, and even destroying stray animals.
Although the death toll from rabies is not high compared to other causes of death, particularly road accidents, it's increasing at an alarming rate -- six fatalities in just three months. This is worrying. Figures were lower in past years. Last year saw 11 people die from rabies. From 2011 to 2015, between 5-7 people died each year from the virus. That number jumped to 14 in 2016.
Soonruth Bunyamanee is deputy editor, Bangkok Post.
There are several reasons why we have to take serious action to deal with rabies despite the low death toll.
First of all, there is no cure for rabies once the symptoms set in.
The Public Health Ministry has revealed an alarming fact that 80% of those who died from rabies over the years contracted the virus from their pets.
This means man's best friend could become his killer without him realising it.
Even so, the large number of strays cannot be ignored as they can become a major source of infection if left without proper treatment.
While society has been debating how to deal with the large number of stray dogs across the country to end the rabies threat, permanent secretary of the Public Health Ministry Jedsada Chokdamrongsuk has floated the idea of taxing pet owners to control the disease.
According to a Livestock Development Department survey two years ago, Thailand was home to 7 million dogs and 3 million cats.
More than 6 million dogs and over 3 million cats are pets which means the rest are strays. The number of such animals are believed to be much higher now.
If millions of pet owners are required to pay tax, the government will certainly add to the state coffers, but it will not eradicate rabies. Many owners will simply abandon their pets to avoid paying tax.
Many stray dogs and cats in communities are fed by people who do not consider themselves owners of the animals.
They are just animals lovers who do not want to take the responsibility of getting them vaccinated and sterilised. They certainly will not want to pay a tax for merely looking after the animals.
Without sterilisation, the number of stray animals will surely increase.
Instead of taxing pet owners, the government should focus on pet registration.
Every pet should be registered and, once it is ready, a microchip should be implanted for the purpose of tracking. Those who abandon registered pets or fail to vaccinate them must be fined.
Meanwhile, local authorities and community leaders need to make a survey and record the number of strays in their areas and the names of people who look after these animals, and then share the information with relevant state agencies in order to get the animals vaccinated and sterilised. Any stray dog or cat roaming around without people to feed or look after them will have to be managed by relevant authorities.
There has been debate on how to manage neglected stray animals. Some call for a "resetting", referring to mass culling. But the idea is strongly opposed by animal lovers.
I totally disagree with the "resetting" option, except in cases where animals are infected with rabies. But I also disagree with sitting idly by without doing something about stray animals.
Uncared for strays have to be placed in proper animal shelters. State agencies will have to pay if they have to set up and manage these shelters.
For example, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration takes care of 5,500 stray dogs at a cost of about 25 million baht a year. The money is spent on food, vaccines and medicines. Not many of them have been adopted.
So, if we collect tax from owners or fine those who abandon them, we have to use the money raised for the right purpose.
The taxes and fines should go directly to these animal shelters. Local authorities in every province will need this money if they are to manage such homes for the sake of community safety and sanitation.