Abstract
An understanding of the core demographic characteristics of the sub-populations of FRD is essential to effectively implement both rabies control interventions through mass vaccination of FRD, and dog population control programmes. This study compares the data obtained following photographic sight-resight surveys in rural (Shirsuphal village in west India) and urban (Municipal Corporation Panchkula in north India) locations . A total of 263 and 1408 FRD were seen at least once through 617 and 3465 sightings in the rural and urban sites, respectively. The rural location had a lower proportion of females (OR 0.5, 95% CI 0.4–0.7) and a higher proportion of poor and fair conditioned dogs (OR 1.8, 95% CI 1.3–2.3) compared to the urban setting. The rural site also had fewer active FRD (OR 0.6, 95% CI 0.5–0.7) and FRD were less likely to be sighted within 20 m of garbage points (OR 0.3, 95% CI 0.2–0.3) compared to the urban site. The demographic composition of the FRD population was found to vary within the urban location, with the odds of sighting a de-sexed dog being significantly higher in residential areas compared to other areas. The study underlines the importance of knowing the demographic composition of FRD for implementation of effective interventions against rabies. Fewer female dogs in the rural location indicate that spaying could be an effective tool for dog population management in this setting, while presence of dogs within 20 m of garbage points in urban settings highlights that an improved garbage management may reduce the carrying capacity of the urban locality resulting in smaller FRD population. It is concluded that quick and low cost surveys can generate useful demographic data for FRD in urban and rural settings which can be useful to understand the epidemiology of rabies and its control.
Highlights
An understanding of the core demographic characteristics of the sub-populations of Free-roaming dogs (FRD) is essential to effectively implement both rabies control interventions through mass vaccination of FRD, and dog population control programmes
In this study we present the demographic details of FRD in Shirsuphal village in western India, and compare these with various residential and industrial sectors of the urban municipality of Panchkula in north India, through a series of photographic capture-recapture surveys of individually identifiable FRD undertaken on 5–7 occasions on predetermined tracks
The number of active FRD during the survey period remained similar across survey days but a significant variation was observed in the number of FRD with respect to their proximity (≤20 m) to garbage points (Table 2)
Summary
An understanding of the core demographic characteristics of the sub-populations of FRD is essential to effectively implement both rabies control interventions through mass vaccination of FRD, and dog population control programmes. The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends control of rabies through annual mass vaccination of FRD, with coverage of at least 70% of the population required to break the disease’s transmission cycle[11] This percentage accounts for the loss of herd immunity levels resulting from the turnover of the dog population due to deaths, births and migrations[12]. Animal Birth Control programmes have been implemented in some urban localities in India, at many places the efforts have been irregular and sporadic[14,15] These efforts are often implemented without considering the demographic composition of the FRD in the area of application, resulting in little or no reduction in the population. We discuss the various factors that possibly influence the FRD demography in rural and urban settings and the implications of such data for implementing effective rabies control interventions
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