Technology for Improving Efficiency and Welfare during Street Dog Sterilization

Street dogs survive on food handouts provided by individuals or the wider community yet receive limited or no veterinary care. They are also known to carry various zoonotic diseases such as Rabies, posing a high risk to public and dog population health. Dog sterilization is one of the most humane and effective methods available to control the street dog population. Dog sterilization programs run with limited resources, and data recordkeeping is often challenging, and thus post-operative return to each specific individual’s capture area is frequently not achieved. Street dogs are territorial, and dislocation results in several welfare issues and an increased risk of post-operative complications, in some cases resulting in death. Humane Society International developed a mobile phone-based application called “SETU”, drawing on years of field experience in street dog location recording, clinical and post-operative treatment data collection. SETU app makes sure that dogs are released back at the exact captured location, which improves welfare significantly and generates a variety of useful data reports to maximize the authenticity of sterilization programs.