Dog shoot.
By Fiacre Banks
@xFiacre (14220)
Ireland
August 15, 2025 10:56am CST
When my family moved from our home in the bush in Malawi to live in a city we were very conscious of stray dogs, and worried about them. In the bush we cohabited alongside lions, hyenas, baboons and the occasional elephant, but so long as we didn’t annoy them they left us alone. There were no dogs, no cats.
In the city there were only dogs, and a lot of them. The big fear was rabies of course. The government’s policy was to carry out “shoots” in all the main towns - there was only one ‘city’ back then and it was included.
For a few weeks the town would be informed that on a certain few days a team of wardens would patrol the streets, and if they came across any dog that was not tied up it would be caught, taken away and killed, no exceptions, no excuses, no argument.
It was an effective policy and was quite reassuring - people rarely recover from rabies. The dogs that were captured were all malnourished, diseased strays, but occasionally a careless owner would have its pet caught and dealt with.
Would you like to see such a policy enacted where you live?
7 people like this
6 responses
@sw8sincere (6042)
• Philippines
15 Aug
I can see why that policy felt necessary in that context, especially with rabies being so dangerous. It’s a tough call, but I’d hope for a balance.. controlling the risk while also using humane capture and vaccination where possible.
1 person likes this
@DaddyEvil (158268)
• United States
15 Aug
A lot of towns/cities in the US do that anyway. They have dogcatchers who patrol and look for stray dogs and cats. If they catch one with a collar/ID/chip, then the owner will be contacted and, after paying a fine, can have their pet back. If there is no collar or chip, then the animals are put to sleep.
Edit to add: Out in the countryside, the farmers/landowners can and will shoot stray cats and dogs when they're found, whether they have collar/ID/chip or not.
1 person likes this
@RasmaSandra (88501)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
15 Aug
That sounds like animal abuse and not a good policy at all,
@JudyEv (362000)
• Rockingham, Australia
16 Aug
We never see loose dogs here. People are only supposed to let them off leads in designated areas. Some disobey that of course but you never see dogs roaming the streets. We have no rabies in Australia either.
@LindaOHio (199302)
• United States
16 Aug
No. Strays are picked up and brought to the dog shelter where they are kept until the owner claims them or they are adopted.
