Diary of Poornima Harish

[Guest guest]

>KIMS: US, UK, etc don’t have dogs on streets.

 

 

This often repeated statement

demonstrates profound historical and ecological

ignorance, and should be refuted as the claim of

an ignoramus whenever made.

 

In fact, when the U.S. was at

approximately the same level of mechanization of

transport as India is now, circa 1950, the U.S.

had as many as 30 million dogs on the streets,

documented by John Marbanks in a series of

studies published by the National Humane Review.

 

About 30% of the U.S. dog population were

free-roaming " community dogs, " and about 70% of

the owned dog population were still allowed to

roam as well.

 

As more & more Americans got cars, and

roads became much wider and faster, free-roaming

dogs were among the frequent casualties--and

people who had dogs began making much more

vigorous and consistent efforts to keep them from

running at large.

 

At the same time, with more

mechanization came the demise of open-air food

markets, and the introduction of centralized

municipal trash collection, which hugely reduced

the food supply for free-roaming dogs.

 

The free-roaming dog population in the

U.S. had mostly disappeared by 1975, but not

because of catch-and-kill efforts, as the

numbers of dogs impounded and killed each year

continued to climb long after dogs were no longer

seen at large.

 

What really changed was that the habitat

had been changed in a manner no longer congenial

to dogs, and the culture of pet-keeping had

changed, toward keeping dogs confined..

 

 

--

Merritt Clifton

Editor, ANIMAL PEOPLE

P.O. Box 960

Clinton, WA 98236

 

Telephone: 360-579-2505

Fax: 360-579-2575

E-mail: anmlpepl

Web: www.animalpeoplenews.org

 

[ANIMAL PEOPLE is the leading independent

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