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Sarath Fonseka’s dog. Probably first against the wall.

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Word on the street is that they’re going to start culling (killing) street dogs. Some fun facts: apparently Sri Lanka has 3 million street dogs (for 20 million people) and about 2,000 people are hospitalized for dog bites each day. Dog culling was stopped in 2006 but they’re restarting it because of rabies scares and the generally exploding population.

Pros

• There are way too many dogs on the streets. In my neighborhood there is dog with red, inflamed penis, three dogs that sleep outside the gate, any number of dogs that gather around the butchers, and the packs of dogs that chase me if I go jogging after dark.
• These dogs are suffering. Aforementioned inflamed penis dog does not look happy at all, and seeing him makes me literally quite nauseous. I looked up prolapsed recently and a lot of dogs have that problem. Not to mention horribly scratchy mange, any number of skin diseases, missing legs, ears… it’s a dog’s life, and not a good one.
• Rabies. I haven’t been bit by a dog, only chased, but they can have rabies among other diseases, which pretty much kills people in a horrible way.
• Sterilization doesn’t work. Sterilization is like an army fighting with tasers. It’s possible, but killing is somehow easier.

Cons

• Killing dogs is pretty shitty
• Sterlization could work

IMHO

IMHO, we should cull street dogs as a part of a much broader policy which included education, sterilization, rehoming and – in the worst case – euthanasia, also another word for killing. There is literally a pretty comprehensive PDF on the subject.

Mass killing is not an effective policy in and of itself and won’t permanently reduce the dog population or rabies in isolation. People really need to start neutering their pets (which reminds me, this kitten’s balls have dropped, I think it’s time). If dogs are just randomly killed a lot of homed dogs caught outside would be killed, so identification and registration needs to start again. Also, work that ODEL and Adopt A Dog In Sri Lanka are doing is vital and, like many important things in this country, the government should be doing something similar.

However, I think culling has to be a part of that policy. Do I think the government should restart culling street dogs again? Yes. The problem really is out of control and dogs and humans alike are suffering. Should it be part of a broader policy that they probably won’t think out and execute, yes, but for a start they can run sterilization and culling in parallel that’s better than nothing. A bit of public education would also go a long way.

Please neuter or spay your pets. The kitten is getting it this week. Maybe his mother, if I can dose her with enough Valium. These cats are another problem. I’ve got some on (in?) the roof making noises that don’t even sound feline anymore, sounds like dinosaur sex or something. Anyways.