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Why Spay Neuter Is Not Just About Numbers !


Happylittlegreensquirrel

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Following on my post re our 1000th Sterilisation I thought I would expand a bit about the who, why , what , where , whens of our work


a successful sterilisation campaign that makes a lasting difference is not just about the total of animals.


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Key factors include


Location | to achieve a meaningful reduction in animal numbers we need to work in a concentrated area expanding slowly out and returning to catch animals we missed or who were too young. A scattergun effect whilst making a difference to individual animals will not make any reduction in total numbers and can weaken the case for sterilisation programs if opponents cannot see or measure a differance. If you neuter less than 85 % of animals the population will still increase over a 5 year period



Owned vs unowned | surprisingly street dog populations are not all about street dogs, owned female animals that are healthier and have better access to resources will reproduce more successfully than a starving stray struggling to survive, an owned dogs unwanted litters may be still strayed onto the streets making her just as much as a problem as her roaming counterpart. In areas where only males are kept as pets they are responsible for fathering puppies with roaming females and spreading sexually transmitted diseases


Species | Dogstar sterilises both cats and dogs, in areas where a street dog problem has been reduced the cat population can increase to an extent that a secondary overpopulation problem exists, reliving animal suffering for one species should not create a problem for another.


Gender | when tackling an overpopulation crisis prioritising owned females then roaming females over males gives the quickest reduction in numbers. In our core areas of work with dogs we have passed that first stage and are now working almost equally with females to males (56 % v 44 %), in cats we are still prioritising females over males ( 73 % v 27 % ) . As we expand into new areas we always prioritise the sterilisation of females.


So with the maths of a sterilisation program the whole is greater than the sum of its parts


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Sam
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Excellent explanation Sam :flowers:

 

Sorry if I missed this before but did you get that last dog pictured as I recall she was very skittish?

 

Are Sri Lankans more willing to adopt former street dogs knowing they have DogStar's back up in case of financial difficulties and knowing that getting a dog through DS means it will already be neutered?

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Twinkle is still alluding us ! last attempt was 5 days ago so we are leaving her for a while to chill out

 

people don't want to adopt adult dogs who to be fair would not want to be "owned" but people are still willing to feed them on the street which is basically what they need , when we vaccinate and sterilise dogs they move from being unowned unsupported street dogs to community dogs with a level of guardianship

 

adoption of puppies has vastly increased because of our works :)

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