Diego Fernando Osorio Sánchez and his dogs wait for their spay and neuter appointments. For Diego, these dogs aren’t just beloved pets, they help him feel safer in an area with a high incidence of crime.
Beyond Rescue: The Power of Spay and Neuter to Transform Communities
Stray Dogs in Colombia: An Animal Overpopulation Crisis
A little tail peaking out from the corner, two dogs rooting through the trash, a dog napping by the side of a road, and a terrified puppy trying to cross a busy street. Roaming dogs are a fact of life in many neighborhoods in Bogotá, Colombia. In a city where some communities have more than 1,231 strays per square mile, it can feel like the streets are overrun with strays–and they are.
But what many people visiting Colombia for the first time don’t realize is that while the numbers of stray dogs is staggering—4.2 million in Colombia alone—some of the dogs they see are free roaming dogs. These dogs are often well-loved members of their family, they’re fed and loved but also allowed to wander the streets at will.
Beyond Rescue: Why Spay and Neuter Matters
Why does this matter? Free roaming dogs are rarely spayed or neutered, and because of this they continue to increase the population of stray dogs.
For some dogs like Zaiko, allowing him to roam isn’t just a choice—it’s become a necessity. Juan David frequently stopped by the store his mother Elena, worked in the evening to walk home with her, with their puppy Zaiko. One day when he couldn’t walk her home, Zaiko went alone and waited for her to get off work. Zaiko now chooses to pick up Elena every evening, giving both Elena and Juan David comfort of knowing she isn’t walking through the dark streets alone. He is more than a beloved family member, he’s become a protector, but like most of the pets in his community, his family couldn’t afford to get him neutered. This is an unseen, everyday struggle for countless caring families in the places we work whether it is Colombia, Nicaragua or Liberia.
Maria Elena loves Zaiko but also depends on him for a safe walk home after work.
Juan David showed Zaiko where Maria Elena worked–now Zaiko makes sure to head there every day to make sure she gets home safely
We focus on the painful math of animal overpopulation–strays and roaming pets reproduction is exponential. The offspring of one encounter between dogs will produce more than 25,000 puppies over a ten year period.* But the solution doesn’t just lie in the numbers, but in empowering the people who love their pets, but lack the resources to care for them properly.
Our Collaborative Approach to Animal Welfare
Our spay/neuter programs are about more than providing a medical procedure; they are a collaborative act of empowerment. We work with local veterinarians and grassroots partners to bring free clinics to underserved neighborhoods. For Zaiko’s family, it meant the opportunity to get him neutered, ensuring he wouldn’t be contributing to the stray population but also making him less likely to get lost, and get into fights, as well as protecting his long term health.
This approach is especially vital in underserved regions in Latin America, where spay and neuter clinics are helping to reduce the street dog population in urban areas. Studies show that offering free spay/neuter services to the public has a disproportionately positive impact on families who can’t afford to take their pets to the vet as well as contributing to public health and animal health.
Your Donation: An Investment in a More Humane Future
When you donate to Global Strays, you are helping to keep strays and dogs like Zaiko safe, because your gift funds pop-up clinics in Zaiko’s neighborhood and others like it. You are becoming a trusted partner to local communities, helping to build sustainable animal welfare systems from the ground up. You are helping us provide vet care that enables a child to have a loving pet, and a family to protect their dogs’ health.By donating to our charity you are empowering local champions like Zaiko’s family to become part of the solution.
Give now to empower Zaiko’s community and end animal suffering at its root.
*Just in case you are wondering about how we came to this estimate: after careful deliberation, we chose the most conservative estimate at every step to make sure that we never overestimate the impact of your donation.
For our calculations, we estimate that the female dog has a litter of six dogs, but that only half of the puppies survive into adulthood. Each subsequent dog only has two litters for two years in their lifetime. Finally, we did not calculate how many more puppies the male offspring might sire as these numbers, while much higher, are more difficult to pinpoint.