I am just trying to understand the role of stray dogs in the ecosystem so that we can manage the stray dog issues properly.
hypothetical question, perhaps you may find your answer in the following article,
Sharing the urban space – Scientific study helps unfold the often misunderstood human-stray dog conflict
"Stray dogs are often regarded as carriers of various diseases including rabies. But they play a very important role in the ecology of our cities, clearing up the organic waste in our garbage dumps. “They feed selectively on animal proteins, and thus are good scavengers”, says Prof. Bhadra. “Though they typically don’t hunt in urban settings, we have occasionally seen them kill rats and frogs. Perhaps if there were to be no dogs, populations of other scavengers like rats, cats and crows would increase rapidly”, she says, explaining the crucial role they play."
https://researchmatters.in/article/sharing-urban-space-%E2%80%93-scientific-study-helps-unfold-often-misunderstood-human-stray-dog
Ecological role of homeless dogs in anthropogenic territories
https://www.e3s-conferences.org/articles/e3sconf/pdf/2021/41/e3sconf_apeem2021_01009.pdf
There will not be an imbalance. There will be a new balance with cats or foxes taking over as top predator. In other words, the population of some other animal(s) will increase to fill the ecological niche left by the dogs.
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