FAQ

[Adapted from the FAQ page of WSD India]

We are constantly asked questions about the stray dog issue, both by people who think dogs are nuisances and by dog-lovers. These are the most common ones.

Why are there so many stray dogs here anyway? Why aren’t there any in London and New York?

The urban environment in Malaysia has two features that encourage stray animal populations – exposed garbage and slums or ghettos. Neither of these exist in developed countries.

Stray dogs are scavengers and garbage provides an ample source of food for them. In the absence of this food source, dogs would not be able to survive on the streets.

There are stray dogs in developed countries too – but they are abandoned pets, or feral dogs (meaning dogs who were once pets but now live like strays). They are unable to survive or breed on city streets since they can find nothing to eat. Most are captured, housed in animal shelters and rehomed.

Why don’t euthanasia programmes work in the developing world?

Studies by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Animal Welfare Board of India (Ministry of Environment & Forests) show that dog population control measures which work in developed countries are unsuccessful in third world developing countries, since urban conditions are very different. The urban environment here encourages breeding of stray dogs, so no matter how many dogs are killed, they are quickly replaced by more.

If stray dog population control is the issue, wouldn’t it make more sense to kill the dogs or take them away?

Removal or killing of stray dogs seems to be the most obvious method of controlling the population, but it is actually completely useless. This is because even when large numbers of dogs are killed, the conditions that sustain dog populations remain unchanged. Dogs are territorial and each one lives in its own specific area. When they are removed, the following things happen:

• The food source – garbage – is still available in abundance, so dogs from neighbouring areas enter the vacant territories.

• Pups born and growing up in the surrounding areas also move in to occupy these vacant niches.

• The few dogs who escape capture and remain behind attack these newcomers, leading to frequent and prolonged dog-fights.

• Since they are not sterilised, all the dogs who escape capture continue to mate, leading to more fighting.

• In the course of fights, dogs often accidentally redirect their aggression towards people passing by, so many humans get bitten.

• Females with pups become aggressive and often attack pedestrians who come too close to their litter.

• They breed at a very high rate (two litters of pups a year). It has been estimated that two dogs can multiply to over 300 in three years.

Since dogs who are removed are quickly replaced, the population does not decrease at all. The main factors leading to dog aggression – migration and mating – continue to exist, so the nuisance factor remains.

Since removal of dogs actually increases dog-related problems, the effective solution is to sterilise the dogs, vaccinate them against rabies and put them back in their own areas.

But what’s the point of putting the dogs back after sterilisation? Doesn’t the problem just continue?

No, when dogs are sterilised and put back in their own area, the population and the problems caused by dogs both reduce. Here’s how:

• Each dog guards its own territory and does not allow new dogs to enter.

• Since they are all neutered, they no longer mate or multiply.

• The main factors leading to dog aggression – migration and mating – are eliminated. So dog-fights reduce dramatically.

• With the decrease in fighting, bites to humans also decrease.

• Since females no longer have pups to protect, this source of dog aggression is also eliminated.

• Over a period of time, as the sterilised dogs die natural deaths, the population is greatly reduced.

Please remember, there is NO overnight solution to the stray dog issue. It is simply not possible to wish all the dogs away. With sterilisation, the population becomes stable, non-breeding and non-rabid and decreases over time. It also becomes largely non-aggressive. On the other hand, when dogs are removed or killed, new dogs keep entering an area and the population is continuously changing, unstable, aggressive, multiplies at a high rate and carries rabies. Which method makes more sense?

Why don’t you dog-lovers just keep all these stray dogs in your own homes?

Dog-lovers have not created the stray dog population. They merely try to minimise it through sterilisation. Moreover, even if a lot of stray dogs got adopted, the basic problems of vacant territories and dog replacement would remain.

(By the same logic, people who love children could be asked to keep the entire population of street children in their own homes!)

Incidentally, our organisation does promote the adoption of strays – so if someone you know is planning to buy a pure-breed dog, try and persuade them to adopt a stray instead. Although it won’t provide a large-scale solution, you will have the satisfaction of knowing you got one dog off the street! Petfinder.my is  a great place to find stray and unwanted dogs (and cats) for adoption.

Can’t some of the dogs be released in another place?

Since they would be entering the territory of other dogs, there will be a lot of fighting in the area in which they are released, and in the process more humans may get bitten. Their original territories will also be left vacant, so new dogs will enter… and the stray dog problem will go on forever, with added unnecessary aggression and stress due to territory disputes.

Does sterilisations help reduce aggression in dogs?

Yes. Most dog aggression occurs during mating time, as dogs cross territories to mate and fight with other dogs whose areas they enter. Humans passing by get accidentally bitten in the course of these dog-fights. This problem ends when all the dogs from a neighbourhood are sterilised.

As testosterone levels come down after sterilisation, male dogs also become less aggressive. Stray dog females are usually aggressive only when they have puppies to protect, so with sterilisation this problem ends as well.

Sterilisation also helps reduce how noisy dogs are. Barking and howling occur during dog-fights, which take place at their mating time, so with sterilisation the problem disappears. Dogs bark when new dogs enter their territory, and as these migrations cease with sterilisation, the barking largely ends too. They also howl when they live and move in packs. When the dog population dwindles in size, pack behaviour also declines.