(not my first language, ask for clarification if something sounds too stupid)

My city is facing a problem: there are packs of dogs everywhere. They don't get violent, but diseases like sporotrichosis and leishmaniasis are starting to spread - the former didn't even exist in my region until recently.

Lower income families are at the most risk of contracting those, as they are more likely to be in contact with street animals. For example, according to my vet, almost every single dog or cat roaming the central street market is carrying sporotrichosis.

In a very superficial analysis, it appears that the dog population has grown according to the deterioration of the financial situation of the local lower middle class. I believe that those families, when faced with financial hardship, aren't able to pay for food and care for a pet and ultimately decide to let them go.

To the surprise of absolutely no one, literally nothing is being made about this. In a close, smaller city, where the problem got way out of hand, they proposed a plan to capture every street animal and... well, take a guess. I'm willing to bet money that this will come to be the case here, too.

The one thing I thought about was giving dog food and/or a small sum of money for low income pet-owning families so that they can care for them at home. But a) the city is broke, and b) that doesn't solve the hundreds of dogs currently roaming the streets. Nobody, including me, seems to be able to come up with anything other than what the neighboring city did, or the individualistic approach of adoption publicity.

So, I'm asking you: what are some humane ways of dealing with this that is effective in reducing street dog population and the spread of zoonosis? Maybe we can come up with something I can develop and present at the city hall.

  • combat_brandonism [they/them]
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    edit-2
    2 years ago

    (not my first language, ask for clarification if something sounds too stupid)

    this is more coherent than 99% of native speakers god damn

    sorry I don't have any helpful advice, was just struck that I'd kill to be able to be this descriptive in a second language

  • StewartCopelandsDad [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    Avenue for research: why is it that most American cities don't have feral dogs, while in other countries (e.g. India) they're ubiquitous? We have feral cats but I can't remember the last time I saw a wild dog just walking around. Is is really just the financial stability of dog owners or is it something else (active euthanasia campaigns, etc )?

    • doublepepperoni [none/use name]
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      edit-2
      2 years ago

      Feral dog and cat populations aren't really a thing in Europe either, tbh, certainly not in Northern Europe. I think there might be populations of urban feral cats in warmer places like Italy. I'm gonna say climate plays a big part.

      Also, dogs are pretty large animals and need a lot of food compared to rats, pigeons, seagulls or cats which I imagine is harder to come by in more developed regions with better waste management

      This made me think of how in old cartoons from the 1940s and 50s and before, you'd often see professional dog catchers :thinking-about-it:

      • StewartCopelandsDad [he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        This made me think of how in old cartoons from the 1940s and 50s and before, you’d often see professional dog catchers

        I was thinking about this too. Like have we just forgotten about active anti-stray measures that the city quietly does in the background or what. My city has a TnR program for cats but I genuinely have no idea if they do anything about dogs

    • mkultrawide [any]
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      edit-2
      2 years ago

      The US has way more animal control operations and pet shelters/rescues. There are more feral cats because they are harder to catch than dogs. There's probably more cultural importance placed on pets in the US than in a lot of other countries.

    • IceWallowCum [he/him]
      hexagon
      ·
      2 years ago

      We have had a system for that for a while, but it didn't really change much

        • IceWallowCum [he/him]
          hexagon
          ·
          2 years ago

          Very good point. I just hope we get to figure something out before it gets to be this drastic.

          it would have to be organization of community to address the situation directly.

          Do you have any examples of community actions in a similar situation?

      • plinky [he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        You have to have some visible tagging system for neutered dogs as well, so that people don’t report same dog 50 times. And you need reporting system obviously.

        It works, it’s just that dogs live for 10 years, so results would become visible in 5ish years with that system. Until then only signs of it working is percentages of tagged dogs

        • plinky [he/him]
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          edit-2
          2 years ago

          *additionally, ideally, neutering is accompanied by vaccinations, but the cost maybe too much, depending

    • PandaBearGreen [they/them]
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      2 years ago

      And sporotrichosis is spread by cats? Maybe the dogs are just a nuisance and sand flies and cats are the real issue disease wise.