Center, Internet, Wildlife Damage Management
Human–Wildlife Interactions
Immunocontraception to Control Rabies in Dog Populations
Date of this Version
Fall 2010
Document Type
Article
Citation
Human–Wildlife Interactions (Fall 2010) 4(2): article 2
doi: 10.26077/qk4p-q837
Abstract
The current world dog (Canis lupus familiaris) population is estimated to be around 500 million. About 75% of these animals, which often are referred to as stray or feral, are free to roam and reproduce and may have a negative impact on human activities. Problems caused by free‑roaming dogs include zoonoses, predation on livestock, attacks on humans, and road traffic accidents. Among the 55,000 human deaths that occur each year from zoonoses, dogs are responsible for > 90%. In addition, > 14 million people per year receive post‑exposure prophylaxis following a dog bite. The majority of deaths and post‑bite vaccinations occur in Asian and African countries, which can barely afford this burden.
. . .
Future research should focus on validating these assumptions for rabies and stray dogs. We believe that feral dog control programs that combined rabies and immunocontraception vaccination would provide a means to reduce feral dog populations and the spread of rabies in developing countries. We advocate that the catch‑neuter‑and‑release approach be replaced by a catch‑inject‑and‑release method that would be limited only by catch effort. This new strategy would increase considerably the numbers of dogs that could be treated, while concurrently decreasing the costs of fertility control programs. Combined vaccination programs would enable maximum use of limited resources and reduce the risk of human deaths from rabies. The technology and the conceptual framework are available to implement these programs; we just need to use them.
Comments
United States government work. Public domain