Stray dogs in urban fragments: relation between population’s perception of their presence and socio-demographic factors

Financial and Socio-Economic Effects of Investment in the Context of Dog Population Management

The modern world faces serious challenges associated with the presence of stray dogs on the streets, especially in urban areas. Vardar Planning Region in North Macedonia, which consists of nine municipalities, experiences such challenges. According to current reports, the number of stray dogs on the streets of cities in this region has increased, which has resulted in an increase in the number of dog attacks on residents. As the existing capacities are small in the registered shelters, we considered the possibility of building a new shelter for stray dogs to meet the needs of this region. The goal of our paper is the evaluation of the financial and socio-economic justifications for the construction of a shelter for stray dogs in the Vardar Planning Region (VPR). The results of the financial justification analysis show that the project does not provide satisfactory financial results. Namely, the Financial Net Present Value (FNPV) is negative, with a value of EUR 75,291. The Financial Internal Rate of Return (FIRR) is 0.57%, lower than the discount rate, which is not acceptable for a private investor. The Financial Benefit-Cost Ratio (FB/CR) of this project is 0.925, suggesting that the total discounted costs are greater than the total discounted revenues. On the other hand, the expected socio-economic benefits from this project are multifaceted, including savings in stray dog bite costs, savings in the cost of traffic accidents caused by stray dogs, and savings in the treatment of diseases caused by stray dogs. The results of the economic analysis show that this investment has full socio-economic justification and that it should be implemented. The Economic Net Present Value (ENPV) is positive and amounts to EUR 789,916. The Economic Internal Rate of Return (EIRR) is 25.94% and the Economic Benefit-Cost Ratio (EB/CR) amounts to 1.90, i.e., greater than 1. The results of the sensitivity analysis also confirm the justification for the realization of this project.

Abandonment of dogs in Latin America: Strategies and ideas

In this article, we gathered information from postgraduate theses and scientific articles published in several databases using inclusion criteria that had been made in Latin America, in countries with similar economic conditions, and also in the USA to present a point of comparison. The objective of this review is to broaden the readers' understanding of the causes of the increasing numbers of stray dogs and the reasons why people abandon pets in the streets, specifically in Latin America. It also discusses adoption and responsible ownership, identifies what failed in promoting positive human-dog interaction, and suggests strategies to address this problem. It concludes that adoption alone is not an effective solution but that it is necessary to offer education and awareness programs for owners, organize sterilization campaigns, and develop and apply - with the corresponding authorities - measures to ensure animal welfare that will provide benefits for society and improve animal quality of life. The role of veterinarians is fundamental in education and in disseminating the necessary information to orient people before they acquire a pet and prevent animal abandonment to resolve this problem.

A New Web-Based Tool for RTO-Focused Animal Shelter Data Analysis

Animal shelters are increasingly interested in reducing their intake and helping their communities keep and care for animals. Improving Return-to-Owner (RTO) rates of stray dogs is one path to save significant shelter space, time, and costs and keep animals with their caregivers and communities. Aggregating and visualizing RTO data spatially are useful for identifying trends and highlighting areas for potential interventions. Since shelters collect similar data, an interactive web application was developed to make such an analysis easily reproducible. This paper presents the tool's capabilities via a case study of 2019 data from the Dallas Animal Services shelter, covering the relationship between stray intake and RTO rate, the distances traveled from home by RTOed strays, microchip use across the city and its relationship with RTO rate, and the length of stay of RTOs and other outcome groups. Findings include showing that 70% of RTOed strays traveled at most 1 mile away from home and 42% up to block away, and that at-large, adult strays that had a microchip had a 71% RTO rate compared with 39% without one. The results affected the shelter's hold time for strays, highlighted target areas for microchip programs, and motivated neighborhood-based methods to locate found dogs' owners. Shelters are welcome to use the tool and participate in the development of new analytical lenses and visualizations that would best suit their needs.

Risk and Environmental Factors Associated with the Presence of Canine Parvovirus Type 2 in Diarrheic Dogs from Thessaly, Central Greece

Canine parvovirus type 2 (CPV-2) primarily infects dogs, which are the main host reservoir, causing severe gastrointestinal disease associated with immunosuppression. The present study was conducted in Thessaly, Greece and aimed to identify risk and environmental factors associated with CPV-2 infection in diarrheic dogs. Fecal samples were collected from 116 dogs presenting diarrhea and were tested by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the presence of CPV-2 DNA. Supplementary data regarding clinical symptoms, individual features, management factors and medical history were also gathered for each animal during clinical evaluation. Sixty-eight diarrheic dogs were found to be positive for the virus DNA in their feces. Statistical analysis revealed that CPV-2 DNA was less likely to be detected in senior dogs, while working dogs, namely hounds and shepherds, had higher odds to be positive for the virus. Livestock density and land uses, specifically the categories of discontinuous urban fabric and of human population density, were identified as significant environmental parameters associated with CPV-2 infection by using Geographical Information System (GIS) together with the Ecological Niche Model (ENM). This is the first description of the environmental variables associated with the presence of CPV-2 DNA in dogs’ feces in Greece.

Attitudes to Noise Inside Dwellings in Three Megacities: Seoul, London, and São Paulo

This study investigated people's attitudes towards noise inside their homes. Online questionnaire surveys were conducted in Seoul, London, and São Paulo. The questionnaire was designed to assess annoyance caused by noise from neighbours and environmental noise (transportation). Information was also collected on situational, personal, and socio-demographic variables. Respondents that were more annoyed by outdoor noise inside their dwelling reported higher neighbour noise annoyance. In Seoul, neighbour noise was found to be more annoying than outdoor noise, and those with higher noise sensitivity reported higher annoyance towards neighbour noise. However, neighbour noise and outdoor noise was found to be equally annoying in London and São Paulo. For neighbour noise, the average percentage of respondents hearing structure-borne sources compared to airborne sources differed in each city. Most neighbour noise sources in São Paulo gave rise to higher annoyance ratings than Seoul and London. Education and income levels had a limited effect on annoyance and coping strategy. Annoyance with indoor noise from neighbours was found to have stronger relationships with cognitive and behavioural coping strategies than outdoor noise annoyance.

Movement patterns of free-roaming dogs on heterogeneous urban landscapes: Implications for rabies control

In 2015, a case of canine rabies in Arequipa, Peru indicated the re-emergence of rabies virus in the city. Despite mass dog vaccination campaigns across the city and reactive ring vaccination and other control activities around positive cases (e.g. elimination of unowned dogs), the outbreak has spread. Here we explore how the urban landscape of Arequipa affects the movement patterns of free-roaming dogs, the main reservoirs of the rabies virus in the area. We tracked 23 free-roaming dogs using Global Positioning System (GPS) collars. We analyzed the spatio-temporal GPS data using the time- local convex hull method. Dog movement patterns varied across local environments. We found that water channels, an urban feature of Arequipa that are dry most of the year, promote movement. Dogs that used the water channels extensively move on average 7 times further (p = 0.002) and 1.2 times more directionally (p = 0.027) than dogs that do not use the water channels at all. They were also 1.3 times faster on average, but this difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.197). Our findings suggest that water channels can be used by dogs as 'highways' to transverse the city and have the potential to spread disease far beyond the radius of control practices. Control efforts should focus on a robust vaccination campaign attuned to the geography of the city, and not limited to small-scale rings surrounding cases.