Methods for dog population control: an introduction

Abstract

The poor condition of abandoned animals is one of the most important issues on animal welfare in today´s world. Canine are one of the most affected animals and from 500 millions of these animals calculated to exist in the world, 75% are street animals. Having a high population of street dogs makes urgent the control of these populations as a tool to prevent spread of infectious diseases. To carry out this review a collection of bibliographic references from information sources was conducted, both primary and secondary sources, in a period of approximately 4 months, in which the methods carried out in the present for dog population´s control in the world, were selected. Perhaps the most used method is surgical sterilization, but it is important to know that there are other several methods to control dog´s populations, which can be classified as nonsurgical and surgical methods.