Gross National Happiness and the Well-being of Bhutan's Street Dogs

• In Event: 2112 - Section on Animals and Society Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 03: Animals, Work and Social Movements

Abstract

It is estimated that there are hundreds of millions of free-roaming dogs throughout the world, concentrated particularly in urban areas of the Global South (Hsu, Severinghaus, & Serpell, 2003). The presence of so many free-roaming dogs results in concerns over exposure to rabies, in addition to concerns that the tourism industry on which so many countries in the Global South depend for revenue will suffer because the dogs bark excessively at night, rummage through trash bins and follow tourists in the pursuit of food, and that the visibility of obviously sick and/or starving dogs will discourage Western tourists in particular from visiting (Arluke & Atema, 2016). In an effort to reduce their populations of free-roaming dogs, the governmental response of many of these countries is to kill the dogs using various methods often regarded as excessively cruel by Western standards. The Kingdom of Bhutan, however, is unique in that it is the first and to date, the only country in the world to implement a nationwide trap-neuter-vaccinate-release (TNVR) program to manage its free-roaming dog population. Face-to-face semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with the founders/representatives of the three animal sanctuaries in Bhutan with a particular focus on free-roaming dogs to explore why Bhutan in particular implemented a nationwide TNVR program, and the extent to which it is successful.

Author

• Marion C. Willetts, Illinois State University