The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) observed a fortnight for public awareness as well as for rabies prevention vaccination between September 28 to  October 13. The civic body ran a vaccination programme every day between 8 am to 2 pm and 3,493 stray dogs were vaccinated. Rabies Day is celebrated around the world on September 28.

Mumbai witnesses around 85,000 dog bite every year. As per the census of dogs in 2014, there were 95,174 of them in 2014 and 25,935 were found un-sterilised. Of the un-sterilised ones, 14,674 were male and 11,261 were female. “An un-sterilised female dog can give birth to at least four puppies and they become fertile within a year. Thus the number of dogs has increased continuously. It is estimated that there are between 2 to 2.25 lakh dogs in the city,” said an official from the BMC.