Dog Ecology and Rabies Knowledge of Owners and Non-Owners in Sanur, A Sub-District of the Indonesian Island Province of Bali

Abstract

Simple SummaryThat rabies can be managed humanely using vaccination is well accepted. However, making sure enough dogs in the population are vaccinated and therefore able to fight off the virus can be challenging. Getting owners to be more responsible for their dogs should help keep the proportion of vaccinated dogs high. This study looked at dogs and people living in three villages in Sanur, Bali; the total population of dogs was 6009, of which only 200 dogs appeared to have no owner. There were some differences between these 6009 dogs in terms of their welfare, the likelihood of them being unvaccinated, the method owners used to confine them, whether they were sterilised, and where owners got them from. Most people were well informed about rabies and had positive attitudes towards dogs and vaccination. This information could then be used to plan a project to improve responsible dog ownership.AbstractThis study gained an understanding of dog demographics, owner behaviour, and knowledge, attitudes and practices relating to rabies in three villages in Sanur, Bali, providing insights for an intervention to improve responsible dog ownership. A combination of a census of all dogs, street surveys of roaming dogs, and a Knowledge, Attitude and Practices (KAP) survey was used to study both dogs and people. A total of 6009 dogs were recorded, of which only 3.3% appeared to be unowned; unowned dogs had poorer welfare and were more likely to be wary of attempted approaches by people. The source of dogs, method of confinement used by owners, and whether dogs were sterilised differed between three breed types; purebred dogs, mixed breed, and Bali dogs (native breed). Three variables were found to have significant effects on the chances of not being vaccinated: age, dog type, and confinement. A mean of 3.81 roaming dogs per km of street surveyed was recorded along 28 sub-village routes. Responses to attitude statements showed that most people had a positive attitude towards dogs and vaccination and did not agree with culling. Knowledge of appropriate bite treatment and symptoms of rabies in dogs was good.

Evaluation of Community-Based Dog Welfare and Rabies Project in Sanur, a Sub-district of the Indonesian Island Province of Bali

“…comm. from government representative) and estimated dog population of 6,009 dogs (10). Each desa was comprised of between eight and 11 banjars (sub-villages).…”

“…Data was collected using a mobile phone application as described in Hibyet al (10). This survey was designed in two parts (see Hiby et al (10), Supplementary Materials for the survey questionnaires): (1) The “Dogalog” recorded permanent details about the dog, such as its sex, breed type and date of birth; (2) The “DogStatus” recorded transient details on the day the dog was seen by the Program Dharma team including its body condition score (five point scale from emaciated through to obese; body condition score training tool available at https://www.icam-coalition.org/project/indicators-project/), presence of a visible skin problem, presence of visible wounds, rabies vaccination status, breeding status and confinement. A dog was categorized as in “poor welfare” if observed to be suffering from any of the following conditions: body condition score of emaciated or thin, visible skin problem or a visible wound.…”

“…Whether this method of confinement was effective, e.g., whether the yard boundary was truly dog-proof, was not investigated during the visit. Further details of the methods used to score transient details are also described in Hiby et al (10). Data were collected during repeated visits to create a history of the health and welfare of each dog included in Program Dharma.…”

“…This sample compares the population of dogs at baseline with the same dogs at their most recent revisit—thus testing the hypothesis that being part of Program Dharma improves dog welfare and vaccination status. This sample represents 35% of the 6,009 dogs found during the census baseline conducted between May 2016 and May 2017 (10). We excluded data from 3911 dogs (65%), because they had either not been revisited at all since the census ( n = 2,705, 45%; usually because they could not be tracked down) or their most recent revisit had been >12 months previously ( n = 1,206, 20%).…”

“…Studies of dog demography and vaccination in Bali suggest similar challenges to reaching and maintaining vaccination. Including failure to vaccinate puppies, roaming and abandonment of owned dogs making them less accessible for vaccination and high population turnover between campaigns (4, 10). Although data to test this hypothesis is not currently accessible in Bali, we note further pulses in population turnover and import of unvaccinated dogs could be triggered by sporadic culling.…”