Stray dog populations in low- and middle-income countries number in the hundreds of millions, and their management raises both public health and animal welfare concerns.
Stray dogs experience chronic suffering from malnutrition, disease, injury, and social instability. Mass culling causes acute suffering to millions of animals while failing to address the root cause of population growth — human behavior regarding dog ownership and abandonment. Humane population management through sterilization, vaccination, and responsible ownership education is both more effective and more ethical.