I see them often, and in some places the population is growing steadily. Street dogs is a society problem in Florianopolis and nothing seems to be done about population control. There is no major programme to safe capture, take care of them and if necessary neutering for sterilizing purposes. As the number of stray dogs increase, their living conditions will decay and we cannot ignore it because it could affect our daily lives direct or indirectly. Most stray animals have been abandoned by people visiting Floripa during vacations and also by residents that don’t want another pet. They life off garbage dumps and also food provided by man.
Some reasons I believe the topic should be given atention:
- Spread of zoonoses (diseases that can spread from animals to people);
- Traffic accidents with animal death;
- Poor dog welfare with competition for resources, lack of hygene and spread of infectious disease and parasites;
- Garbage spread over the street;
- Rare but possible dog bites;
City administration might not be considering the situation out of control, therefore it relies on local comunities to find a solution to the problem. Capture and killing is certainly not acceptable and will never work. The dogs are just like our pets with feelings and wishing for care and attention. We must care for their life.