Battersea Dogs Home & Global Alliance For Rabies Control Collaboration To Eliminate Rabies — Dogster

This World Rabies Day (28 September, 2026), underneath the theme ‘Stronger Collectively’, Battersea Dogs & Cats Home and the Global Alliance for Rabies Control (GARC) are highlighting how collaboration helps stop rabies in South Africa, the place two organisations have joined forces to vaccinate greater than 4,000 canine and cats throughout 9 communities. South Africa is certainly one of 5 nations – together with the UK – supported by Battersea’s World Programmes work. This offers coaching and strategic funding to strengthen information, networks and apply throughout the companion animal welfare sector, driving systemic change for canine and cats. 

Battersea has funded GARC’s Communities Towards Rabies (CAR) programme since its launch in 2023, serving to join native organisations with experience, instruments, coaching and alternatives to share greatest apply within the world struggle to remove rabies. South Africa has eleven Rabies Centres of Excellence (RCEs). In Limpopo, two RCEs are working collectively by means of the CAR programme to achieve communities with massive populations of roaming canine and restricted entry to veterinary providers. 

Collaboration in Motion 

The ARRC and HALO partnership, Animal Aid for Rural Communities (ARRC) and Hoedspruit Animal Outreach (HALO), had been awarded Rabies Centres of Excellence standing in 2023. The organisations present veterinary care, rabies prevention and neighborhood training in rural Limpopo, certainly one of 4 areas the place strategic rabies vaccination has the potential to remove greater than 90% of dog-mediated rabies in South Africa, highlighting the significance of coordinated native motion. 

Supported by GARC’s Stronger Collectively grant, ARRC and HALO vaccinated 4,174 canine and cats throughout 9 communities in 2025 by means of door-to-door outreach and stationary vaccination clinics. The partnership additionally distributed 2,000 instructional data sheets and displayed 50 consciousness posters in neighborhood areas. 

Lani Anagnostou, certainly one of ARRC’s Administrators, stated: “Working collectively with HALO enabled us to mix our area expertise, native information and established relationships to beat challenges and attain extra communities. Every organisation was in a position to play to its strengths to finally strengthen the impression of our rabies prevention efforts, and we look ahead to additional collaboration with HALO, together with larger-scale tasks and neighborhood providers.” 

From Native Motion To World Progress 

The ARRC and HALO’s partnership demonstrates how the CAR programme connects organisations dealing with comparable challenges, permitting them to share sensible expertise and construct native capability. Whereas neighborhood organisations could make a big distinction on the bottom, eliminating rabies requires collaboration at each stage – from native communities and animal welfare organisations to veterinary providers, governments and worldwide companions. 

By working at nationwide and neighborhood ranges and connecting organisations by means of a world community, Battersea and GARC are serving to drive progress in the direction of the worldwide objective of zero human deaths from dog-mediated rabies by 2030. 

Simona Zito, Grants & Programmes Supervisor at Battersea, stated: “Rabies is a world problem that nobody organisation can sort out alone. Drawing on 165 years of expertise, Battersea’s World Programmes group has been bringing organisations collectively since 2018, championing efficient and humane options and strengthening the capability of the broader animal welfare sector. The ARRC and HALO partnership in South Africa is a strong instance of how this method may also help ship lasting change for animals and the communities that look after them.” 

Her sentiments had been echoed by Dr Andre Coetzer, CEO at GARC, Rabies Alliance: “The Stronger Collectively theme of World Rabies Day 2026 reminds us that by means of collaboration throughout native, nationwide and worldwide ranges, we will make a rabies-free future a actuality. The work of organisations resembling ARRC and HALO exhibits the impression that collaboration can have on the bottom, and we now want this spirit of partnership to increase throughout communities, different organisations, governments, and worldwide companions to speed up progress in the direction of rabies elimination.”  

To search out out extra, head to Battersea’s website or observe Battersea on Instagram @battersea, facebook.com/Battersea and TikTok @battersea.

Function Picture Credit score: Elnur, Shutterstock