Jakarta – At least 3,400 stray dogs have been killed this year in the Indonesian province of East Kalimantan in a drive by the authorities to prevent the spread of rabies, the official Antara news agency said Thursday.

Munif Muchsinin, the head of the province's animal husbandry service, said the drive had been successful.

"The stray dogs suspected of having been infected by this virus have been killed through food poisoning," Antara said in a dispatch from the East Kalimantan capital of Samarinda.

It said 2,000 stray dogs have been killed in the districts of Pasir and Kutai, 800 in Balikpapan and 600 in Samarinda.