Minister Heydon highlights the importance of vigilance against rabies on World Rabies Day 2025

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon TD, has marked World Rabies Day by highlighting the importance of vigilance against rabies.

Every year World Rabies Day is held on 28 September, to raise awareness about rabies prevention. Ireland has been free from rabies since 1903, and the Department has policies in place to maintain this freedom. However, Ireland is not free from the risk of rabies, as cases have been reported in pets and wildlife throughout Europe in recent years.

Minister Heydon said:

The most likely way rabies could be introduced into the country is through pet travel or import of exotic animals. Legislative requirements for importing animals differ by species and country of origin. Details can be found on the Department’s website. It is important to understand and comply with the legal requirements, including vaccination requirements, if traveling with pets or exotic animals.

Rabies is still present in more than 150 countries worldwide. It can be transmitted to humans by saliva through a bite or scratch of an infected animal, such as a dog, cat or wild animal e.g. monkey. Despite rabies being vaccine-preventable, every year 59,000 people die from this disease, of which approximately half are children younger than 15 years of age.

The aim of World Rabies Day on 28 September is to raise awareness all over the world about the impact of rabies and how we can work together to bring an end to the disease once and for all. The theme of World Rabies Day 2025 is ‘Act now: You, Me, Community’ and the aim is to help in the fight to eliminate all human deaths from canine mediated rabies by 2030. Events are being organised worldwide by participating organisations to help raise awareness.

If you suspect an animal is affected by rabies notify the Department immediately, by contacting your local Regional Veterinary Office. More information about rabies can be found on the Department’s website here, and information about traveling with pets can be found here.

ENDS

World Rabies Day is organised by the Global Alliance for Rabies Control. For more information, resources and courses can be found here.

The World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) estimate that nearly 59,000 people across the world die every year from rabies and that rabies is still endemic in 150 countries/territories worldwide. WOAH Link.

Most human deaths are due to dog bites and occur in children in developing countries in Africa and Asia. The majority of these deaths are preventable by increasing public awareness and access to canine rabies vaccine.

Once symptoms of rabies appear, the disease is almost always fatal in humans and in animals.

Rabies eradication requires a multidisciplinary One Health approach including human health, veterinary and local authorities. Rabies can be eliminated for good by working together.

In 2015 the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH), World Health Organisation (WHO), Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) with partners, the Global Alliance for Rabies Control (GARC), announced their framework for eliminating rabies by 2030.

A European Commission video entitled ‘EU pet passports and the fight against rabies’ can be found here.

Rabies is a notifiable disease in Ireland. If you suspect an animal is affected by rabies you must notify the Department immediately, by contacting your local Regional Veterinary Office. A list of Regional Veterinary Offices can be found here.