Bangladesh Animal Care

Understanding the Issues

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has highlighted this complexity of controlling dog populations by establishing a categories based on the dog's level of dependence (intentional provision of resources) and level of restriction by the population. These are:

1. Restricted (supervised)dogs - fully dependent and fully restricted by man;
2. Family dogs - fully dependent and semi-restricted;
3. Neighbourhood dogs - semi-dependent and semi-restricted;
4. Unrestricted (unsupervised ) dogs - semi-dependent and unrestricted;
5. Feral dogs - independent and unrestricted.

Why control the street dog population?

Both human and animal welfare are given as reasons for controlling street dog numbers.

Spread of zoonoses (diseases that can spread from animals to people) is a particular problem where high densities of dogs and humans live in close association with rabies being a major concern.

Other animals, such as goats, cows and horses, are also susceptible but do not have the propensity to bite and are are often overlooked because they are deemed less of a threat to humans. However there is growing evidence that eating infected animal meat can lead to rabies.

Dog welfare is likely to be poor if the population is not controlled. This is due to competition for limited resources leading to malnourishment in some individuals, particularly in pregnant and lactating bitches and also a high rate of spread of infectious disease and parasites.

There are 3 recognized practical methods for dog population management:

Capture and removal of dogs are no longer considered effective direct control measures. Indirect benefits may be obtained by selective elimination of unvaccinated dogs that are not in compliance with control regulations and may accumulate around markets, abattoirs and food industries. 

In many cities around the world, killing of the dogs has been seen as the intervention of choice.

Whether it is right to kill dogs or not, the killing of dogs is unfortunate for a number of reasons, which affect both human and animal welfare:

• studies show that it does not work as a long term method of dog population control because it is not possible to eliminate all the dogs, and that other dogs soon re-populate cleared areas, worsening the spread of diseases such as rabies;
• it is therefore wasteful of resources and counter-productive in the control of zoonotic diseases;
• methods of capture, restraint and euthanasia are often cruel and involve great suffering for the dogs;
• Kant and Gandhi have both commented that brutality in dealing with animals leads to brutality in dealings with fellow man, an opinion now supported by criminology research (eg Kellert, Felthous);
• elimination of street dogs ignores the role they may be playing as companions to the poorest members of the community who are unable to keep dogs as pets, providing them with protection, warmth and companionship.

In contrast to municipality killings, The Animal Birth Control (ABC) programmes, when done well, have the potential to improve both human and animal welfare and avoid the ethical and welfare issues raised above. However, as the programme continues, new ethical and welfare issues must be considered. This is because humans have additional responsibilities towards the dogs once they have intervened in there lives by neutering them.

Some of the problems that have to be balanced have been mentioned above, such as the release of dogs from veterinary care before treatment/wound healing and convalescence are complete. Is it acceptable to let the animal 'take its chance' regarding post-op complications. However, that potential harm is balanced by the reduced stress to the dog of returning quickly to its home territory and the minimising of social disruption.

• WHO has expressed its strategy regarding dog population management in Annex 4 of the eighth report of the WHO Expert Committee on Rabies (WHO, Technical Report Series 824, 1992)
• The World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA)
• International Association of Human-Animal Interaction Organizations (IAHAIO)
• Vetwork UK: www.vetwork.org