Sen. Lisa Murkowski is asking lawmakers to pass legislation to help tribal members who are bitten by their stray village dogs.
She said, “an average of 4,800 tribal members are hospitalized or receive outpatient care from dog bites each year. Some studies indicate that tribal areas experience a death rate from dog attacks that is 35 times higher than the rest of the nation, with most of these cases are in Alaska.”
Murkowski introduced the legislation intended to control rabies and distemper in Native Alaska communities by deploying veterinary services to Native areas.
“The overpopulation of stray and abandoned dogs in Indian country is a significant public health and safety issue,” Murkowski said. “More than 250,000 reservation dogs, as they’re often, called roam the Navajo nation alone. Alaska Native children experience the highest incidences of hospitalization from dog attacks than any other group in the nation and we need to deal with it.”
Murkowski is vice chairwoman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. Last month, she introduce S.4365, the Veterinary Services to Improve Public Health in Rural Communities Act.
The act addresses “uncontrolled animal populations and a lack of veterinary care in Native communities, Alaska Native villages, and on Indian reservations,” the bill says, which increases “the risk of parasites and zoonotic diseases, dog bites, food insecurity, and mental health issues among Alaska Natives and American Indians.”
“Dog bites and other injuries are common in rural areas in the State of Alaska, with the Norton Sound Health Corporation reporting an average of 87 bites per year in the Bering Strait region be- tween 2016 and 2023, and the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation reporting an average of 98 bites per year in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta region be- tween 2008 and 2017,” the legislation says. “Alaska Native children have the highest incidence of hospitalization for dog bites in the Indian Health Service system.”
The act will provide free veterinary services to tribal areas. It will also:
- Amend the Indian Health Care Improvement Act to authorize Indian Health Service to provide public health veterinary services to Indian Tribes and Tribal organizations in Indian Health Service Areas where zoonotic diseases are endemic and the risk of transmission is elevated due to uncontrolled dog populations.
- Allow Tribes and Tribal organizations to receive IHS funding for such services in their 638 self-governance compacts with Indian Health Service. These services would include eligibility to spay and neuter dogs.
- Provide Indian Health Service with veterinary officers from the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps to fulfill the purposes of the bill.
- Direct Indian Health Service to coordinate with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and U.S. Department of Agriculture in the implementation of the bill.
- Require a biannual report to Congress on the bill programs and use of funds.
- Direct USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Wildlife Services to conduct a feasibility study on deploying and improving the delivery of oral rabies vaccine in Arctic regions of the country.
- Amend existing statute to designate Indian Health Service as a co-coordinating agency in the National One Health Framework, an initiative to address zoonotic diseases and advance public health preparedness across federal agencies.
The legislation was referred to her committee, where it has had one hearing. To view a copy of the bill, click here.
The Alaska Department of Health issued an epidemiological bulletin on the topic of dog bites in 2015, at this link.
Stray dogs are easily eliminated. Again, the princess dumps public money into the pit created by lack of personal responsibility. .22 is lots cheaper.
.22cal ammo @ Cabela’s is $0.12 per round.
This legislation Lisa is proposing is ridiculous!
This only reinforces that she’s “Not Fit for Duty.”
This also reinforces that she’s a Beta Politician.
I hate to say it, because I really love dogs. But I agree, the problem is easy to fix and is 100% of their own making
Many people think that man’s best friend is a better life form than humans 😉
…….certainly a higher life-form than low-life Lisa Murkowski.
You have to be Kidding!!!. I can recall times that eradication of a troublesome animal was the effective remedy. Just saying.
We need free vet services here in Wrangell too. Our neighbors told us that they want to send Lisa to the pound if she ever shows up in Wrangell again. She has not updated her distemper and rabies series, and that is really concerning our local residents.
Last time I was on the ferry when it docked in Wrangell, there was a shaggy, wrinkled thing near the dock barking and foaming at the mouth.
The poor thing was being teased by a man with a Trump sign.
Any chance that was her?
Teased by a man with a Trump sign? Really, did he have the red MAGA hat too? This is a tall tale I’m failing to believe.
According to AK DLWD, there are only 2000 Lisa haters living in Wrangell, and expected to drop to 1400 in a few years. These old Republicans are starting to go fast, Frankie. If we don’t get Lisa vaccinated soon, our dear Wrangell community will become a ghost town.
Foolish spending of taxpayers money by a politician when the country is broke.
She doesn’t care about stupid spending.
Hey Murkowski, how about personal accountability? Let’s let the village elders figure out how to handle the problem, I bet their not big on nanny state mandates just like the rest of us
This has nothing to do with stray dogs. It has everything to do with more free handouts, more entitlements, for rural Alaska – which buys votes for Lisa. Anyone who can’t see this is blind. She has to go. Anytime this person says the words, “good public policy,” hold your kids tight, hold on to your wallet and hold on to your rights. She’s no good, but she knows how to work the rural system.
Princess isn’t even trying to act like a Republican anymore.
Wild dogs are a local issue, not a federal one. One would think a woman who has spent way too many years in Congress would know that.
What does one need to do to “act like a republican”? I ask, because the only metric I see applied to being a republican, and not a RINO, is unfettered fealty to Trump.
Like all good leftists, Lisa has no problems spending other people’s money so she can look like she is helping…
Holy moly, WHY can’t the folks who live in the villages take care of this on their own?
This is beyond silly, heck, have the VSPO fix the problem.
Murkowski is just fishing for votes AGAIN!
Any child raised in a non- urban environment (let me add “ non welfare base urban to that)
could easily administer a smidgen of common sense to solve this seemingly unsolvable problem.
Any opportunity to SPEND!SPEND! sPEND!!! As princess whips out her Taxpayer Debt Card!
Or…. how about making it open season on killing off all the damn strays?
Oh, sorry. I meant culling.
Culling the poor, unfortunate feral canines left to fend for themselves; you know, for their own good, to end their suffering. Sounds much more merciful and humane that way, eh?
I can accept the compromise of each village being given a rifle and a box of rounds.
Actually in many western villages there is a long standing answer for this problem, it’s called Dog Shooting Day. The last time I observed the DSD the shooter was paid 20 bucks per dead dog.
How about a bounty on dog scalps?
She’s getting started on buying the village vote
And all the village idiots will vote for her!
Where is the Native Health Care system on this issue. Don’t they get federal money to assist in their programs? Do we have to start another government organization to start a new program. Where is Senator Murkowski’s head at this time. There are definitely more pressing issues in the Native communities that she could help with like getting a railroad or road into the Kotzebue/Nome area.
She is a idiot, the southern border is open and terrorists and drugs are pouring in and she’s worried about a local issue.
Quinhagak gives two days notice, then any dog that’s not tied up, gets shot.
Unfortunately they don’t know which ones have been spayed or neutered by the traveling vet…… That’s kinda self defeating.
More pandering and grifting. Maybe the Native Corporations could step up on this and many other issues of its shareholders.
Pretty much the ONLY folks that Senator Murkowski represents are Alaska Natives and Native corporations. I can’t blame the Native people. But I can throw a rock or two at Senator Murkowski.
As I sit in my little house in a fairly meaningless Anchorage subdivision, I cannot think of a single thing that Senator Murkowski has done for my family in the last ten years. Both of my children have moved far away to pursue professional opportunities while the Alaskan economy has floundered under Senator Murkowski and multiple weak governors. Great job, Lisa.
Strays should be referred to Drs. Remington or Winchester. Referral sources should receive a referral fee. Drs. should get a bounty.
Hey Lisa, why don’t you consult with South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem about dogs. All it takes is a gun and a bullet to remedy the problem. I wish you had better common sense like your father.
sleep tight America….
your tax dollars are hard at work.
For Lisa, every penny that is spent on “Native issues” and “Native communities” is money spent for her next election that doesn’t have to come from a campaign fund.
She will spend ABSOLUTELY any amount of moneys on native issues merely because more than anyone, and especially the villages, vote.as a bloc.
If a native activist told her that every village grandmother should have roses every Sunday, she’d introduce a bill requiring the USAF to deliver them.
Why? Because they deliver her a senate seat every six years.
We had a veterinarian offer to come to the village for FREE all he required was a place to provide his FREE service to the community. The tribal council said he would have to pay rent for the room where he was offering to provide his FREE services, needless to say he declined. You can’t fix stupid!
This is a joke, right?
Lisa pandering to natives (mostly).
Good ol’ Lisa focusing on the important things.
Well, at least Murkowski is back in the news again. Lol
FREE vet services. You mean the ones I’m going to have to pay for.??? Like when we go to the veterinarian we wind up paying American greenbacks that my wife and I busted our asses for & now I get the privilege of paying for someone else’s problem dog. Sort of like the problem homeless that WE working fools are paying for. Awesome. Good job Lisa hand it out. By the way a 22 round is about 10 cents. 10 cents X 2200 stray dogs that’s $2200.oo. Lisa can donate she has taken enough of our money
Murkowski is using the WHO/WEF fear-mongering tactics: “to authorize Indian Health Service to provide public health veterinary services to Indian Tribes and Tribal organizations in Indian Health Service Areas where zoonotic diseases are endemic and the risk of transmission is elevated due to uncontrolled dog populations.”
So scary! The dogs are going to give all of the villagers some strange zoonotic disease. First, the stray dogs will be “treated;” then the dogs that have homes will become a problem and have to be put down or all “vaccinated” against the latest plandemic and every other disease known to man. Sled dog teams will be decimated because we cannot allow these animals to exist because they are spreading contagion. THEN, every other animal in that area will have to be terminated because they have, or could get, the lastest plandemic disease going around.
List the free stuff. You might be surprised. Free ammo for hunting, fuel for snowmobiles, etc, etc. But it’s not really free, is it? Not for the taxpayers. But she’s “such a nice lady” …with other people’s money.
Meanwhile the nation is falling…..
I have been to the villages and seen this misery. The stray dog problem is heartbreaking. They form packs and become dangerous, especially to small children. Dogs with owners are often as unlucky, as they spend most of their lives tied to a short leash outside, freezing and without access to food or water. There are some responsible dog owners in the villages, but overall, a sad fate for a dog.
The villagers can take care of the stray dog problem with their hunting tools. Why do they need the government to step in and take care of the “problem?”
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