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

Abstract

Dogs bring many benefits to our society but, if not properly managed, they can be detrimental for humans, livestock and wildlife. Wehighlight the increasing problems associated with free-ranging dogs using examples from two regions of the world where this issue ispervasive, India and South America. In these regions, free-ranging dogs spread diseases, injure people, harm biodiversity, andnegatively impact human livelihoods. We discuss why mitigating these deleterious effects can be extremely complicated because thereare diverse challenges such as: (a) a lack of or inappropriate legislations concerning free-ranging dog management and human–doginteractions, (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 differinginterests, existing policies and regulations, views and social influence of stakeholders, power asymmetries between interested parties isyet another challenge in this regard. We need evidence-based legislations and strong institutions (e.g., public health and conservationinstitutions) that are capable of implementing governance principles and managing the complexities of this socio-ecological system bytaking science-based decisions, and balancing power asymmetries to promote consensus.