1. Going down the Dogs
In Shangri-La City, it has been customary for people to throw away any excess food in
the table. They believe that keeping excess food will bring bad luck, hence, would affect their
business. So whether people eat at home or in restaurants, nobody dares to take home any scrap
food left from the table.
Because of this practice, tons of garbage has been scattered all over the city. The
government has tried to provide services, which will pick up these trashes from homes and
restaurants, but they are not able to curb this excessive waste. The people believe that if they
limit their food preparation or servings, this would go against their custom of being able to serve
the best.
Due to this excess waste of food, stray dogs have been coming into the city from other
places. Migration of these stray dogs has been found to increase as the waste food inside
Shangri-La City is increasing. At the same time, because of this abundant “food”, the population
of stray dogs is also increasing in terms of its litter. Strays have been found to be healthier and
having longer lives.
A negative effect of these strays is the sudden spread of a disease called mad dog virus.
This virus has been detected to come from the stray dogs. As the population of these stray dogs
increase, so has been the occurrence of this virus in the human population. The government is
thinking of a plan to curb this virus problem, which is plaguing the city residents. A proposal is
to make the stray dogs sterile. This would mean catching them and doing the operation and then
releasing them later. The suggestion of killing these dogs are not entertained since it is against
the people’s custom and religion.
Identify the problem statement. Draw a causal loop diagram for this system and Stock
flow diagram.