Dynamics and Control of Stray Dog Populations

Abstract

The population dynamics of stray dogs is simulated to assess the effects of sterilization and euthanasia. From simulations representing less than 5 years, sterilization is less efficient than euthanasia to reduce the stray dog population, considering similar rates, but the total number of sterilized dogs is less than the total number of euthanized dogs per km2 per year. Over 20 years, both strategies have similar efficiency. Beyond a certain rate of dog abandonment, both strategies are inefficient.control, dynamics, euthanasia, sterilization, stray dog population,

Situação Pós-Adoção Dos Animais Adotados Junto a Uma Ong De Proteção Animal No Estado Do Rio De Janeiro

“…A esterilização dos animais é uma das principais estratégias para evitar o abandono e consequente superpopulação de animais não domiciliados. Em não havendo importação de animais de outras áreas, a esterilização contínua permitiria, a longo prazo, a estabilidade e posterior redução da densidade populacional (32) . De acordo com Patronek et al (31) o principal fator para a não castração dos animais era o custo da cirurgia, daí a importância dos projetos de castração gratuita ou subsidiada.…”

The Effectiveness of Dog Population Management: A Systematic Review

“…For example, in the observational studies, the impact of fertility control varied from decreases in population size of 12% in 1.5 years to decreases in size of 40% over 12 years. Although all methods decreased population size, fertility control had the greatest effect in both observational studies [68,69,83,84] and modelling studies [69,[85][86][87][88][89][90]. Fertility control decreases dog population size by preventing births, therefore allowing a reduction of numbers as natural deaths occur.…”

“…By increasing the rate of fertility control and restriction status of dogs, this would both reduce the opportunities for reproduction and therefore potentially reduce the birth rate even greater than if fertility control had been used alone. Culling, by increasing the death rate of a population, may cause a rapid reduction in population numbers [85,88]. The culling method has been criticised as ineffective at reducing populations over longer periods of time [88].…”

“…Culling, by increasing the death rate of a population, may cause a rapid reduction in population numbers [85,88]. The culling method has been criticised as ineffective at reducing populations over longer periods of time [88]. This was supported by modelling studies that directly compared fertility control and culling.…”

“…This was supported by modelling studies that directly compared fertility control and culling. These papers found that, although culling resulted in an initial decrease in dog population size (e.g., a five-year period [88]), fertility control was more effective at reducing the population size over longer periods of time (e.g., a 20-year period) [85,88]. This may be because individuals removed through culling are replaced by new individuals through compensatory breeding or migration from other locations [114], therefore rendering the method less effective in the longer term.…”