March 2026 Excellence in Action: Dharamsala Animal Rescue, India
GARC’s Rabies Centers of Excellence (RCE) form part of our Communities Against Rabies program. Through our Excellence in Action series, we want to showcase the incredible work that these RCEs do to eliminate rabies in their communities. For this month’s Excellence in Action, we are proud to share the work of Dharamsala Animal Rescue (DAR), Himachal Pradesh, India.
India is home to an estimated 62 million stray dogs, the largest street dog population in the world. This has serious public health consequences. The country accounts for approximately 36% of global rabies deaths. According to the World Health Organization, one person dies from rabies every 30 minutes in India. Despite this, India has no
- national mass spay/neuter program,
- coordinated rabies vaccination strategy, or
- nationwide education on how to prevent dog bites or lifesaving actions following dog bites.
GARC spoke to Deb Jarrett, Founder, about DAR’s programs and the impact they are making in their communities as an RCE.
Tell us more about who you are and where you work?
Where DAR works is a town known for being the residence of the Dalai Lama and being at the foothills of the Himalayas. The town is comprised of subsistence farmers, people who work in tourism and hospitality, and an increasing number of digital nomads.
We believe that the problem is not the street dogs, it is the people. It does not matter how many dogs you sterilize and vaccinate, if the people still look at the dogs with fear and disgust, then cruelty and conflict will continue. This is why one of our core programs is Humane Community Outreach and Education. Through this program, in the second half of 2025 alone, we educated more than 600 adults and children in person and reached thousands more through radio shows and press coverage.
Our mission is to create a better world for animals and people by ending the human/street dog conflict.
DAR focuses on four main programs: ABC (Animal Birth Control), Rabies Elimination, Street Dog Rescue, Humane Education, and Community Outreach. These programs were designed to effectively achieve our mission and goals which are in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by enhancing public health (SDG 3) and creating safer, more sustainable cities by reducing human-dog conflicts (SDG 11).
- ABC (Animal Birth Control)
This program is a systematic approach to stabilize the street dog population humanely. Our team is certified by the Worldwide Veterinary Service. We were also selected by the Humane Society International to be part of their Veterinary Training and Capacity Building Partner program.
- Rabies Elimination
We run an annual mass rabies vaccination and awareness program each year to tackle the issue. In addition, we vaccinate every dog who comes to our clinic.
- Street Dog Rescue
This program provides an optimal environment for any small animal needing 24/7 care due to accidents, disease, cruelty, or abandonment. Hit and runs are the deadliest cases we deal with: 42% of the victims do not survive. More end up with amputations, and other disabilities.
- Humane Education and Community Outreach
Our goal with this program is to create a more compassionate community with no bites and no rabies. We run programs in schools, cafes, trade schools, joint Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) events, go on local radio shows, and hold press conferences.
What are your biggest challenges in working as an RCE?
Our biggest challenges is a lack of funding and space. To expand our work, we need additional staff, more land for kennels, and a larger operating theater to increase sterilizations and vaccinations. We also struggle with the ongoing conflict between humans and dogs. While we have seen amazing changes over the years with growing compassion and expanded knowledge, the lack of education and awareness remain an ongoing struggle. One example of this lack of education is how to avoid dog bites. Most people are still taught to throw rocks at dogs to keep them away. Myths like applying turmeric to dog bites and drinking holy water instead of getting to the hospital for post-bite treatment persist, making our work even more important.
Why did you want to be a GARC Rabies Centre of Excellence?
Over the years, I have noticed that most NGOs do not focus on rabies or teaching dog behavior. This is also certainly not something that the Indian government prioritizes. This lack of awareness and understanding has led us to where we are today: too many dogs, not enough vaccination and sterilization efforts, and people still unaware about how to approach a dog or what to do if they get bitten. Not only does this increase the current human/street dog conflict, but this may result in a human dying of rabies, a 100% preventable outcome.
By becoming an RCE, we hope we can set an example for other NGOs, so more work gets done to prevent rabies. In addition, we hope this recognition will bring us more funding to expand our work.
Do you have any campaigns that you want to highlight for 2025?
Highlights from 2025:
Year after year, our annual rabies vaccination and awareness camp grows bigger. In 2025, we were invited on a local radio show to discuss the upcoming camp and shared information about how locals could help keep their community safe from rabies.
The Camp started with an event for awareness and pet vaccination in Rakkar Village where DAR is located, supported by our village council:
- 1,860 vaccinations in 11 days. A 13% increase over 2024.
- Overall, we vaccinated 3424 dogs, a 9% increase over 2024.
For 2026:
We are planning to double our vaccine reach for our annual camp in September this year. We are very lucky that Mission Rabies will be donating 4000 vaccines.
How have you used the GARC resources in your community?
We use the GARC Data Platform for collecting data to track our vaccinations and sterilizations within the community.
The GARC Data Platform allows us to accurately report to callers and the local government about what we have done in their locations. It allows for better planning and the reports let us show funders and potential funders we are serious about the work.
The Communities Against Rabies program is supported by Battersea Dogs and Cats Home and Boehringer Ingelheim.