Street dogs and cats live in close association with human communities globally. Their welfare ranges from tolerated coexistence to active persecution and is addressed through very different policies across countries.
Street animal welfare exists on a spectrum from dogs integrated into communities that provide informal food and shelter to animals persecuted through poisoning, shooting and neglect. The welfare case for TNR and vaccination over culling is supported by evidence: culling fails to control populations (replaced by immigration), harms individual animals through inhumane killing, and in rabies-endemic areas fails to achieve the human health goal that often motivates it. High-quality TNR combined with rabies vaccination protects both human and animal welfare at population level - an alignment that makes it the recommended approach for organisations with joint welfare and public health mandates.