Sri Lanka, Sept. 12 -- The Animal Welfare Coalition (AWC) has raised concerns that the Health Ministry, in collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO), is formulating a policy to implement only rabies vaccination programmes instead of dog sterilisation, a move they warned could increase the stray dog population and ultimately lead to mass culling.

AWC Executive Committee Member Dr. Chamith Nanayakkara told the Daily Mirror that documents relating to the policy are scheduled to be presented to the Health Minister on Monday (15).

"If this policy is approved, sterilisation programmes will be suspended, leading to an increase in stray dogs and possibly resulting in their killing in the future. Without sterilisation, the governmen...