Every Sri Lankan Dog "Should Have an Owner"

Sri Lanka’s Daily News reported a plan to enforce a registration system to control the dog population and the spread of rabies. A Government Minister said that “every dog should have an owner”. This plan may well help with the rabies problem but as I reported earlier (here) a high proportion of bites are probably coming from pets.

As in other tropical countries I suspect that aiming for 100% ownership is fighting against the tide, unrealistic and unnecessary. More practical is trying to prevent abandonment, some sterilization and improving waste management. Administrative registration programs simply do not reflect the subtle nature of human-dog relationships in warm climates where ownership is a largely imported concept and unowned “village dogs” have a role and a long history.