An estimated 200 to 600 million stray dogs worldwide face significant welfare challenges including starvation, disease, injury and culling, with humane population management approaches offering better welfare outcomes than lethal control.
Stray dog welfare is a global welfare crisis of immense scale, with hundreds of millions of individual animals experiencing chronic food insecurity, disease burden and the constant threat of violent death. Lethal control methods used in many countries — poisoning, shooting and drowning — cause severe suffering and do not produce long-term population reduction because they do not address the underlying factors driving population growth. Humane TNR programmes combined with vaccination and responsible ownership education produce better welfare and public health outcomes. The challenge is securing resources and political will for humane approaches when lethal control appears cheaper in the short term.