Dear Mr. Katoch ,

Indian stray  parriah dogs had been with us since thousands of year .Their utility  as companion animal and their right to co exist with man was well recognized  by ancient sages .The dogs were loved , nurtured ,and even worshiped . ( see Sarma and her children  a book  by Bibek Debroy -Penguin Books  India ) . Only logical way to keep street without dogs is to keep city with zero garbage  ,which is a dream  for us . A.B.C. program  is the only way to control dog population . ( Jaipur Project - Veterinary Record  Sept. 2006 ). The cost can be drastically cut through chemical castration of male dogs .P.K.Sethi

Actually, though garbage control is a great idea, I would rather suggest castrating as many male dogs as can be found. All of them. We do this to control feral cats in the US. Neuter both male and female cats that are in the wild and the population decreases. Vet schools can volunteer to take on the work.

Garbage control will certainly help and is a great idea. A large number of stray dogs can pose a significant risk to the spread Rabies, a significant zoonosis that kills. Dog population control through neutering can help a great deal. The population at large should be educated on the responsibilities coming with ownership of pets and the positive benefits emanating from responsible ownership of pet animals including dogs.

Given dog's reproductive strategies it is not surprising that spay/neuter is not working they are promiscuous and can breed year round. they have evolved to quickly fill new habitats. Most of these dogs are not strays, and most of the dogs in the world are free living. See the following paper for more information:

 Lord, K., Feinstein, M., Smith, B., and R. Coppinger, (2013).

Variation in reproductive traits of members of the genus Canis with

special attention to the domestic dog (Canis familiaris). Behavioral

Processes. 92: 131-142

By thinking about these animals as escaped pets we target our management strategies in the wrong place.  They are a species that has evolved to survive off of our refuse.  The more refuse the more dogs and vice versa.  

How a neuter / spay can breed ! en estrous in bitches  last for 3 to 4 months  during which male dogs are not attracted  this how nature controls their breeding .  A .B.C. project at Jaipur in India has worked wonder in reducing stray population and rabies control boath in man and beast .

P.K.Sethi

CNR programmes are deemed to be the most effective strategies to effectively reduce dog population in the long-run. Of course,activities should target possibly females rather that males and the vast majority of them in order to ensure tehaction to be effective (attaining 70% of the female population is necessary to have a reduction of the population). That is to say that coordination of actions is of paramount importance: spot actions in one area that do not target the neighbouring ones will have no effect; large scale actions are to be carried out (but the same would apply in case you might want to implement a killing campaign) since dogs can have quite large home-ranges (in particular is searching for bithches in heat), and might move from one area to another.

The reduction on food sources to the dogs (e.g. education of citizens and garbage reducton) would support an effective campaign.

Controlling dog population is a complicated and multifaceted issue, and could be solved only through a long-term planning of actions and a strong political will. NGOS might be interested to take care of implementing some of the actions, but the efforts are best to be be coordinated by local authorities to ensure an effective approach and a long-lasting solution.

In Colombia we have similar problems with stray dogs, and their control varies in the different cities and villages.  The tendency is neutering dogs with owners, and sometimes stray dogs.  The main problem is the abandonment of pets and the tradition of having free dogs as pets in the countryside and in poor towns.  I think it is very important to work in education of people.  In my country there is a lot of social control about neutering and adoption of pets.  It would be great to have immune castration systems such as those applied with pigs, but the problem is the longer life span of dogs and the need of apply the vaccine in more than one dose. 

Thanks for the inputs. We'll try to implement the ABC-AR program in light of the suggestions. Thanks again.

I am very supportative of the answers that ask for trap-neuter-return policies such as those used for feral cats in some countries.  I think it is an excellent idea that colleges or universities for veterinarians could give their input into this.

Suggestion  from  Losif Vasiu is great  .Vet .intern if associated with such  project will make them expert in A.B..C.  surgery . In due course of time they can switch over to laproscopic   surgery which is  faster  and  less invasive . Unfortunately such mentors are hard to find . I have seen vets . performing butchery on poor canines .

P.K.Sethi 

The only reasonable way to reduce stray dogs population is euthanasy for those without owner assuming them health/immunity status. Those having an owner should be identified (electronicly), and included in a national program of vaccination and parasite control. If no genetic value, should be spayed. A reasonable euthanasy code including transmissible or chronic diseases should be accepted by animal welfarare organizations

Perhaps Mr.Gheorghe  is unaware of close association of dog with man !If one peeps in to past , i mean cave age it was only this animal who protected man from from intruding danger by alerting him ! He worked as  live infra red radar and still doing the same duty on Indo-Pak  L.O.C.and helped nab and kill several terrorist .They too have a right to live with dignity  one Indian high court ruled when when crazy people wanted mass killing .Hundred fifty years of this sense less practice did not yield any result and world wide study led W.H.O. to suggest A.B.C.

P.K.Sethi

Euthanasia of healthy animals is a very controversial issue and social control is stronger every day related to this situation.  Here in Colombia we have had many scandals about killing dogs (not only as a control method) and some public figures have been “burned” because they kill or mistreat a dog.  I understand there are cases when animals need to be euthanized because of physical injuries or disease, and there are some organizations that need to use this method when they are full of animals.  Preventive methods always are better.

Though,it is not possible to get rid of all stray dogs, however, there is a possibility to reduce their numbers to an acceptable level and that is may be through:             Raising the public awareness within the concerned communities

Development and enforcement of legislation, dog registration, licensing and vaccination.

Control of breeding and reproduction can also be practiced.

However, direct destruction of stray dogs with consideration of ethical and animal welfare issues is the most effective and fruitful.practice..

In desperate cases euthanasia is the only quick solution, but there is a niche in the cities that is occupied by stray dogs. If you kill a thousand of dogs, in a few months you will have another thousand. You need to enforce education, responsible pet ownership, cleaning streets, sterilization campaigns, etc.

Euthanasia is cruel.  Trap-neuter-and resturn is not.

The OIE (World Animal Health Organization) provides guidance for free roaming dogs, which be accessed online:

OIE, 2014. Stray dog population control, Chapter 7.7 OIE Terrestrial Animal Health Code - Version 7 - 07/07/2014. 

You may also wish to examine the recommendations of the International Companion Animal Management Coalition, Humane Dog Population Management Guidance, which describes several strategies using case studies,one of which is catch, neuter, release. 

relocating all  stray to dog house or mass killing is insane idea , by doing this we break an important link of the eco system .Vacated area is  soon occupied by cats ,  rats or monkeys . This  was done at a place in India resulting in huge population of rats and then came the Plague sending shivers .Dogs were brought back and situation was controlled . W.H.O. suggests  A.B.C. after much thought  and result oriented studies .

P.K.Sethi

Sir, You can please follow the link below to obtain certain valuable informations:-

http://www.vetwork.org.uk/abc.htm

Catch-and-release is a very effective means of reducing stray, feral, and street dog populations.  Success can only be evaluated after several generations, as dogs move in to the area whose dog population has been reduced.  It does take money and time.  Many catch-and-release programs use grants, private donations, volunteers, and veterinary discounts in order to succeed. I suggest you communicate with organizations that work with street animals in India, such as Animal Aid Unlimited in Rajasthan.

http://animalaidunlimited.org/

As mentionned previously, even if catch-release is effective at long time, it costs expensive for developping countries. At the same time, we should understand the ecology associated to those animals and that they participate in a natural equilibrium. In Tunisia, we have a serious problem of waste management. When stray dogs find food (thrown by households), they become healthy, fertile. The female dog become able to finish adequatly its pregnancy and lactation phase, the cycle is continuing. From my point of view, the good management of waste is fundamental compound beside other control measures. Killing dogs humanely should be considered as alternative, it was practiced since long time in Europe and helped so much to eradicate some animal diseases.

A properly implemented ABC program does reduce the stray dog population and dog bite rates. Published reports by J F Reece, S Chawla and S. Singh describing the results of the ABC program in Jaipur illustrate what an effective ABC program can achieve. Street dog numbers fell by fifty percent in the 20 years following implementation of the ABC program by Help In Suffering and the incidence of dog bites in the city fell by 70%. Most importantly, the number of human rabies cases in the ABC area fell to zero over the course of the program. However, few communities implement ABC systematically and, as a result, they do not obtain the results observed in Jaipur. An economics analysis of the Jaipur ABC project reported substantial cost savings to the municipality. (A.J. Larkins et al -

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.prevetmed.2020.105120).