Socioecology of the Canine Population in the Province of El Jadida, Morocco

Abstract

Understanding the socioecology of domestic dog populations is essential for effective disease control, especially canine rabies. In Morocco, since 1986, the control efforts and plans put in place by the government have failed to eradicate this disease; this is because the management of the canine population was not taken into account during the establishment of these plans. It is against the background that this study was designed to estimate the dog population and determine its socioecological characteristics, as well as investigate the attitude of the inhabitants towards the dogs. A stratified random sampling was conducted using a structured questionnaire from May to December 2016. A total of 1931 households were interviewed, comprising 27.4% in urban areas and 72.6% in rural areas. A total of 3719 dogs were counted alongside a human population of 11302 for a dog : human ratio of 1 : 2.42 in rural areas and 1 : 46.58 in urban areas. The majority of dogs (92%) in rural areas were not vaccinated against rabies. In urban areas, about 88.5% were vaccinated against rabies. In addition, 78.5% of dogs in rural areas were free roaming, with more than 53% of births being abandoned by their owners, resulting in a large stray and feral dog population and increasing the potential for continued transmission of rabies virus. There was strong association between breed and rabies vaccination (p<0.05) and confinement with body condition score.

Owned and free-roaming dogs in the North West of Tunisia: estimation, characteristics and application for the control of dog rabies

“…Most of the owned dogs in the rural site (51.1%) were free-roaming, compared to 33.3% in the urban area, concordant with previous reports in Mexico (Romero-Lopez et al, 2008), Guatemala (Pulczer et al, 2013), and in Bhutan (Rinzin et al, 2016) and slightly different in Morocco (Bouaddi et al, 2018) and Democratic Republic of Congo (Mbilo et al, 2019). Most of the dogs were either guard or herd animals as in Morocco (Bouaddi et al, 2018), Mali (Mauti et al, 2017;Hambolu et al, 2014). The majority of owned dogs were local mongrel breeds at both sites.…”

“…This finding will be very useful for the program of the control of zoonosis such as rabies by implementing sterilization of female dogs in rural areas and male dogs in urban areas in order to better manage the free-roaming dog population. Most of the owned dogs in the rural site (51.1%) were free-roaming, compared to 33.3% in the urban area, concordant with previous reports in Mexico (Romero-Lopez et al, 2008), Guatemala (Pulczer et al, 2013), and in Bhutan (Rinzin et al, 2016) and slightly different in Morocco (Bouaddi et al, 2018) and Democratic Republic of Congo (Mbilo et al, 2019). Most of the dogs were either guard or herd animals as in Morocco (Bouaddi et al, 2018), Mali (Mauti et al, 2017;Hambolu et al, 2014).…”

Rabies epidemiology, prevention and control in Nigeria: Scoping progress towards elimination

“…These are reactive only or as part of the rabies outbreak response [ 79 , 90 ]. Moreover, dog owners are required to pay for dog rabies vaccinations, and the vast majority allow their dogs to roam, which makes it difficult to restrain during vaccination campaigns [ 91 ]. Other countries in Africa, such as Kenya, Namibia, and Malawi, have implemented rabies control programs through mass dog vaccination, enhanced surveillance, and rabies awareness, but have received significant international financial support, supplemented secondarily by local government’s resources[ 11 , 12 ].…”

Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Regarding Rabies in El Jadida Region, Morocco

“…In Africa, most cases of rabies are neither identified nor reported [4,5], consequently posing a huge challenge for rabies surveillance and control. Upgrading public knowledge coupled with improving knowledge, attitudes, and practice (KAP) surveys could support the prevention and control of rabies [6][7][8][9].…”