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Evidence-based legislation, strong institutions and consensus needed to mitigate the negative impacts of free-ranging dogs

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Abstract

Dogs bring many benefits to our society but, if not properly managed, they can be detrimental for humans, livestock and wildlife. We highlight the increasing problems associated with free-ranging dogs using examples from two regions of the world where this issue is pervasive, India and South America. In these regions, free-ranging dogs spread diseases, injure people, harm biodiversity, and negatively impact human livelihoods. We discuss why mitigating these deleterious effects can be extremely complicated because there are diverse challenges such as: (a) a lack of or inappropriate legislations concerning free-ranging dog management and human–dog interactions, (b) unregulated intentional and unintentional feeding of free-ranging dogs, (c) limitations of animal shelters, (d) non-responsible ownership, and (e) uncontrolled dog populations. As the management of animal species is usually shaped by differing interests, existing policies and regulations, views and social influence of stakeholders, power asymmetries between interested parties is yet another challenge in this regard. We need evidence-based legislations and strong institutions (e.g., public health and conservation institutions) that are capable of implementing governance principles and managing the complexities of this socio-ecological system by taking science-based decisions, and balancing power asymmetries to promote consensus.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Associate editor and two anonymous reviewers for useful comments on a previous version of this manuscript. This work was supported by the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Universidad Nacional del Comahue and a Rufford Small Grant.

Funding

This study was supported by Universidad Nacional del Comahue (Grant No. 04/B260) Rufford Foundation (Rufford Small Grants 28982-1).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Grupo de Investigaciones en Biología de la Conservación, Laboratorio Ecotono, INIBIOMA, Universidad Nacional del Comahue – CONICET, Quintral 1250, R8400FRF, Bariloche, Rio Negro, Argentina

    Sergio A. Lambertucci, Lucía B. Zamora-Nasca, Marina de la Reta & Pablo I. Plaza

  2. Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, Royal Enclave, Sriramapura, Jakkur Post, Bengaluru, Karnataka, 560 064, India

    Asmita Sengupta

  3. National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

    Asmita Sengupta

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  1. Sergio A. Lambertucci
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Lambertucci, S.A., Zamora-Nasca, L.B., Sengupta, A. et al. Evidence-based legislation, strong institutions and consensus needed to mitigate the negative impacts of free-ranging dogs. Ambio 53, 299–308 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-023-01928-y

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