1. Ecology of Street Dogs, Rabies
and
Population Monitoring
J.F.Reece, B.Sc., B.V.Sc., M.R.C.V.S.
Help in Suffering,
Maharani Farm,
Durgapura, Jaipur 302018,
Rajasthan, INDIA
jack@his-india.in

2. • Street dogs
• Neighbourhood dogs
• Community dogs
• Free-roaming dogs
• Street pets
• Feral dogs

3. • Unconfined, totally;
partially
• Dependent; semi-
dependent; not
dependent

4. Why do we want to control dog
populations?
• Improve Dog Welfare
• Control Rabies and other zoonoses
• Control other perceived nuisances- dog bites,
noise, pollution, road accidents

5. • To do this effectively we need to:
– Understand something of the dogs’ biology,
behaviour and ecology
– Monitor the effects of the control measures

6. Street dog ecology
• How many?
• Breeding season?
• Litter size?
• Territory size?
• Longevity
• Sex Ratio?
• Diet?

7. How Many?
• Total size of population is unimportant
• Effects of control measures are important
• Total population size very difficult to estimate
• Effects of control measures much easier to
measure

8. Use Index of Abundance Surveys

9. Index of Abundance Surveys
Pink City Population Survey Nov2012
2000
1800
1600
1400
1200
1000 Series1
800
600
400
200
0
Dat e o f S urv ey

10. Breeding behaviour/litter size
• Data readily available
• All you need to do is monitor your
programme
• In Jaipur average litter size was 5.62
pups/litter (n=398 litters)

11. From: A mark-resight survey method to estimate the roaming dog population in three cities in
Rajasthan, India BMC Veterinary Research (2011) 7:46
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1746-6148/7/46 Hiby,L.R, Reece, J.F., Wright,R., Jaisinghani,R.,
Singh, B,. Hiby,E.F.

12. From: Timing of Oestrus and reproductive behaviour in Indian street dogs. Veterinary Record (2002) 150
450-451 Chawla, S.C., Reece, J.F.

13. Territory Size/ Longevity
• Individually mark dogs

14. Territory Size/ Longevity
• Then if/when recapture will know when
and where released.
• From this can calculate Longevity
• In Jaipur for spayed female lifespan is 3.8
years

15. Rabies
• Public Health is main ‘selling’ point for
dog control
• Bites from Rabid Dogs cause 95+% of all
human rabies cases
• Scarcity of data on dog rabies in India

16. Rabies
• Help correct this deficiency
– Monitor diagnosis of rabies cases
– Take samples and send to Veterinary College
Bangalore

17. 1. Is the dog more than 1 month old?
No
Adapted from
Yes
Tepsumethanon,V. et
al. J.Med.Assoc.Thai
2. Has the dog been sick less than 10 days? (2005) 88 419-422
No (or is normal)
Yes (or Not Known)
3. Did the illness develop gradually? No (Acute onset)
Yes (or Not Known)
4. Are the symptoms progressing? No (Stable or improving)
Not Rabies
Yes (or Not Known)
No (Dog circling or blind)
5. Is the dog NOT circling or blind?
Yes (or Not Known)
6. Does the dog show 2 or more of these signs? No
Drooping Jaw; Drooping dry tongue
Abnormal sound barking
Licking own urine; Abnormal licking of water
Yes
Regurgitation; Biting/chewing at odd objects
Biting with no provocation; Aggression;
RABIES
Abnormal behaviour; Restlessness, Appears sleepy
Running with no purpose; Stiffness on walking/running
Imbalance of gait; dog sitting posture

18. Rabies sampling
• Samples can be
stored in 50%
glycerol-
phosphate
buffered saline

19. Conclusions
• Monitor everything
– To prove your successes to funders, supporters and
detractors;
– Identify weaknesses to improve performance and
effectiveness
– Gather dog ecological data and rabies
epidemiological data
– Monitoring is not difficult and is as essential as
sterility, clinical competence etc

20. THANK YOU