Participatory methods for the assessment of the ownership status of free-roaming dogs in Bali, Indonesia, for disease control and animal welfare.
Prev Vet Med
; 116(1-2): 203-8, 2014 Sep 01.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-24910425
ABSTRACT
The existence of unowned, free-roaming dogs capable of maintaining adequate body condition without direct human oversight has serious implications for disease control and animal welfare, including reducing effective vaccination coverage against rabies through limiting access for vaccination, and absolving humans from the responsibility of providing adequate care for a domesticated species. Mark-recapture methods previously used to estimate the fraction of unowned dogs in free-roaming populations have limitations, particularly when most of the dogs are owned. We used participatory methods, described as Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA), as a novel alternative to mark-recapture methods in two villages in Bali, Indonesia. PRA was implemented at the banjar (or sub-village)-level to obtain consensus on the food sources of the free-roaming dogs. Specific methods included semi-structured discussion, visualisation tools and ranking. The PRA results agreed with the preceding household surveys and direct observations, designed to evaluate the same variables, and confirmed that a population of unowned, free-roaming dogs in sufficiently good condition to be sustained independently of direct human support was unlikely to exist.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Ownership
/
Animal Welfare
/
Health Status
/
Dog Diseases
/
Community-Based Participatory Research
Type of study:
Qualitative_research
Aspects:
Determinantes_sociais_saude
/
Patient_preference
Limits:
Animals
/
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
Asia
Language:
En
Journal:
Prev Vet Med
Year:
2014
Document type:
Article