Two ways to handle strays
Stray dogs are a real problem on Koh Samet, an island off of Thailand, roaming the beaches and attacking tourists. Dog owners, whether visitors or residents, are being ordered to come in and get their canines photographed for a special 'dog passport' with the dog's date of birth, age, sex, species, ID number and the owner's name and address. A tag will be given out to be worn by the canine to inform any dog catcher of thier doggy passport. Any canine without one will be vacinated and deported onto the mainland.
On the other paw, shop owners in Penza, a city in Russia, are making the dogs work for them by luring them into their shops and painting them up as billboards. Logos of the shop and its goods are sprayed onto the sides of the dogs, who are then released as living adverts. Shops even capture 'rival' shop dogs and repaint them into their colours. Unfortunatly, spray painting dogs isn't illegal, and local vets can do nothing but decry the ethics.
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MelSkunk (Melissa Drake) — read stories — contact (login required)a student and Skunk from Toronto, ON, interested in writting, art, classic cars and animals
Comments
One of the neatest animal regulations I've ever seen was a TV segment about how San Francisco's dealing with stray feral cats in Golden Gate Park. Rather than poison them, shoot them, etc etc, they simply asked the local citizens who visit the park and feed the cats to, once a month, give the cats specially-prepared feed with sleeping pills in it (supplied by the city). Volunteer vets gather the cats, spay & neuter them, and release them back into the park. The feral cat population has dropped dramatically, it costs the city nothing, the cats are unharmed, and the volunteers love helping out.
Uh, wow. That's an impressive idea. Trust something like that to come out of San Francisco. I can see problems happening with overdosing or falling prey to dogs etc. because they couldn't run, but if it's worked in practice, more power to 'em.
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