WORKED BY: ENDI CAUSHI

4. Skills and adaptations
Dogs are known to be a highly
adaptive and intelligent species. To
survive in modern cities, street dogs
must be able to navigate traffic.
Street dog riding the subway
Some of the stray dogs in Bucharest
are seen crossing the large streets at
pedestrian crosswalks. The dogs have
probably noticed that when humans
cross streets at such markings, cars
tend to stop. The dogs have
accustomed themselves to the flow of
pedestrian and automobile traffic; they
sit patiently with the people at the curb
when they are stopped for a red light,
and then cross with them as if a daily
routine.
In cities in Russia and several other
countries, street dogs are said to have
been observed to learn to use subway
and bus services.

6. India
See also: Indian vulture crisis and Street dogs in Chennai
As a result of the virtual extermination by the veterinary
drug diclofenac of the vultures which formerly ate animal
carcasses as well as dead humans, urban India has two
features which create and sustain street dog populations:
large amounts of exposed animal carcasses, which provide
an abundant source of food, and a huge population of slum
and street-dwellers whose way of life includes keeping the
dogs as free-roaming pets. For example, Mumbai has over
12 million human residents, of whom over half are slum-
dwellers. At least five hundred tons of garbage remain
uncollected daily. Therefore, conditions are perfect for
supporting a particularly large population of stray dogs. India
has the highest number of human rabies deaths in the world
(estimated at 20,000 per annum). In 2001, a law was passed
in India that made the killing of stray dogs illegal, and
residents often feed the animals as well. In August 2014,
the Delhi Policeannounced plans to recruit some of the city's
stray dogs as police dogs, after training them.
In Romania, have been a huge problem in recent
decades, especially in larger cities, with many people
being bitten by dogs. The problem originates primarily in
the systematization programme that took place in
Communist Romania in the 1970s and 1980s
under Nicolae Ceaușescu, who enacted a mass
programme of demolition and reconstruction of existing
villages, towns, and cities, in whole or in part, in order to
build standardized blocks of flats (blocuri). The dogs from
the yards of the demolished houses were abandoned on
the streets, and reproduced, multiplying their numbers
throughout the years. Estimations for Bucharest vary
widely, but the number of stray dogs has been reduced
drastically in 2014,after the death of a 4-year-old child in
2013 who was attacked by a dog. The Bucharest City
Hall stated that over 51,200 stray dogs were captured
from October 2013 to January 2015, with more than half
being euthanized, about 23,000 being adopted, and
2,000 still residing in the municipality's shelte

8. Cats and dogs depend on humans for their everyday needs
– food, water, shelter, veterinary care, love and more. Yet
thousands of animals across the UK have no guardian to
care for them, let alone a warm, comfortable place to curl up
in at night. Many suffer and die on the streets or have to be
euthanised for lack of good homes. Animal homelessness is
a complex crisis, but the solution is simple: adopt animals
from shelters or the streets instead of buying them from
breeders or pet stores and prevent unwanted animals from
being born by always sterilising companion animals.
At any given time, there are an estimated 100,000 dogs – and countless cats – without
homes in the UK. Left to fend for themselves on the streets, cats and dogs often suffer and
die after getting hit by cars, being attacked by other animals, succumbing to extreme
temperatures, starving, contracting contagious diseases and facing other dangers. Many
stray animals are poisoned, shot, mutilated, tortured, set on fire or killed in other cruel ways.
Animals are often abandoned by the people they depend on to care for them. For example,
two dogs were found huddled together near a river in Tottenham Marshes after apparently
being dumped there. Both dogs were extremely thin, and one of the animals, who was
elderly, could barely walk. Another dog was found tethered to a fence in Park View, Bramley,
on New Year’s Day and had apparently been left there overnight in freezing temperatures
while fireworks exploded nearby. The dog was so terrified that he was shaking and had wet
himself.
Open-admission shelters accept every animal in need, caring for them and keeping them
safe, warm, fed and loved. But because there are so many homeless animals and not
enough good homes for them all, many have to be euthanised – a procedure that’s fast and
painless for animals but heartbreaking for the caring shelter workers who must perform it.
About 21 dogs are euthanised in shelters across the UK every day.

9. Who’s to Blame?
Why are so many animals homeless? Breeders and the
pet industry are major contributors to this crisis because
they bring more puppies and kittens into a world that
doesn’t have enough good homes for all the animals
who already exist. Puppy and kitten mills – which
supply animals to pet stores – churn out litter after litter,
and many of the dogs and cats bred by breeders will
either become homeless themselves or fill homes that
could have gone to those who are waiting in shelters.
People who don’t spay or neuter their animal
companions are also to blame. Some may think that
letting a cat or dog have “just one litter” isn’t a big deal,
but that “one litter” can quickly lead to hundreds or even
thousands of animals if the offspring from that litter go
on to have puppies or kittens of their own, and so on.

10. Many people also acquire animals on a whim or give
them as “gifts” without considering the lifetime
commitment that’s involved. When people discover
that caring for an animal requires more effort, money,
time and patience than they expected, they often turn
their backs on their loyal companions.
People who acquire animals as a “fad” often dump
them just as quickly after the craze fades. Blue Cross
adoption centres across the country have reported a
five-fold increase in the number of Siberian huskies
and Alaskan malamutes given up following the
success of the Twilight films and a 137 per cent
increase in the number of miniature breeds given up
between 2008 and 2013 as people tried to imitate
celebrities who were seen carrying tiny dogs in their
handbags.
Staffordshire bull terriers, Rottweilers, Akitas and
other breeds that are often acquired as macho “status
symbols” are frequently abandoned after they
become too aggressive to handle. And sadly, many
animals are overlooked or abandoned simply for
being the “wrong” colour: Blue Cross reported a 65
per cent rise in the number of black cats they took in
each year between 2007 and 2013, speculating that
the increase was because black cats don’t show up
as well in “selfies”.

11. Hope for Homeless Animals
The simplest, most important and most effective
way to save cats and dogs from all this suffering is
to prevent more unwanted animals from being
born by making sure that animals are spayed or
neutered.
Every animal who’s sterilised prevents potentially
hundreds of thousands more from being born only
to suffer and die on the streets, be abused by
cruel or neglectful people or be euthanised for
lack of loving homes. Without spaying, one female
dog and her offspring can produce 67,000 puppies
in just six years. In seven years, one female cat
and her offspring can produce a staggering
370,000 kittens!
Spaying and neutering are routine, affordable
surgeries that improve animals’ health: spaying
eliminates the stress and discomfort that females
endure during heat periods, eliminates the risk of
uterine cancer and greatly reduces the risk of
mammary cancer. Neutering makes males far less
likely to roam or fight, prevents testicular cancer
and reduces the risk of prostate cancer.
Communities that have passed mandatory spay-
and-neuter legislation have reported a significant
reduction in the number of animals who are taken
to shelters and subsequently euthanised.

12. What You Can Do
Each of us can help work towards the day
when there will be a loving, permanent
home for everyanimal by spaying or
neutering our animal companions and by
always adopting and never buying animals
from pet stores or breeders. And
encourage everyone you know to do the
same! It’s also important to consider
whether we’re prepared to take on the
lifelong commitment of caring for an animal
before adding a new member to the family.