The Problem of Homeless Cats and Dogs Deserves Our Attention

By Zhou Xianxian and Yan Biyu

Dr. Sarah Platto is an Italian veterinarian expert on an imal behavior and welfare,serving as an assistant professor of animal behavior and welfare at Jianghan University. She came to China in 2007 and has been engaged in animal research ever since.

She loves being with animals and has developed an acute sense of what is going on in the minds of animals through their expressions and gestures. She believes that animals have a certain unique language and that humans share DNA with all other animals, so they are closely related to us. For the last two years on World Rabies Day, she has organized campaigns in Wuhan in response to the call of “Global Alliance for Rabies Control.” The campaign this year provided 150 rabies vaccines for free with the help of a pharmaceutical company called Boehringer Ingelheim Shanghai.

At present, as homeless cats and dogs are becoming a serious urban problem, we’ve had an interview with Dr. Sarah Platto, an Italian veterinarian behaviorist,in order to gain more insights from a professional perspective.

Why do we see so many homeless cats and dogs in cities?Over-breeding is the main reason. A female cat, for example,can give birth to anywhere from six tofifteen kittens a year,and a new kitten can mature and begin to reproduce within a year. In order to control them, the internationally recognized approach is to trap, neuter, and release them (TNR), which can control the number of stray cats and dogs, and create a relatively stable environment for them—to avoid fl eeing andfighting.

Another reason is that humans abandon pets. For this reason, Dr.Platto said that there should be comprehensive management measures to help mitigate this.In Italy, for example, every pet has a microchip implanted under their skin between their shoulder blades, which records the owner’s name and contact information. Abandoning pets is against the law in Italy and has legal liabilities.

As for the diseases stray animals carry, Dr. Platto said that rabies is the only infectious disease that can bring danger to human life, while other diseases do not cause serious harm to living creatures. The infection can spread from animals to humans, killing about 60,000 people worldwide each year.

She said that killing animals is definitely not an effective way to control rabies. In 2008, during a major outbreak of rabies on the island of Bali, the government killed nearly 200,000 dogs, but the local epidemic became more serious. Dr. Platto explained that a territory can only support a certain number of animals and the animals inside the territory form a well-controlled and managed group which doesn’t allow other animals to come in. Once some of the animals in the area are killed, other animals will come to compete for food. Such flows can lead tofights between animals, and thus rabies is more likely to spread.

The most effective way to control rabies is to give animals a rabies vaccine. People who have been bitten by cats and dogs need five more shots, even if they have been vaccinated. However, dogs and cats need to be vaccinated only once a year even if they get bit by an infected animal. In Italy, for example, between the 1960s and 1970s, the government used to organize vaccination campaigns every six months, which offered free vaccines for every pet owner and threw baits containing oral rabies vaccine to the streets or the wild for stray and wild animals.This has led to the extinction of rabies in Italy since the 1970s.

Generally speaking, cats and dogs do not attack humans for no reason. Although animals cannot express themselves in language, human beings can understand them by learning about and observing their behavior. “We should learn to identify their emotions: Under what circumstances can we be close to each other and under what circumstances it is best to keep our distance.”

Dr. Platto believes that cats and dogs have lived on earth as humans’ partners for thousands of years, and it is our duty to create an environment where humans can live in harmony with these animals.

萨拉，江汉大学生命科学学院教授，意大利动物行为与福利学专家。2007年来到中国，在中国从事动物研究已有十一年之久。

她喜欢和动物相处，能够从动物的神情动作中看懂它们的心思。她认为，动物有语言，人类和所有动物都共享着或多或少的DNA，因此人类和动物是紧密联系在一起的。为响应“全球狂犬病控制联盟”的号召，近两年的世界狂犬病日，她都在武汉举办了推广活动，免费提供上百支狂犬病疫苗，希望为控制狂犬病做一些贡献。

目前，在流浪猫狗成为严肃的城市问题之时，我们采访了意大利动物行为学专家莎拉·普拉托。

为什么我们能在城市里看到那么多的流浪猫狗呢？过度繁殖是主要原因。以猫为例，一只母猫一年就能生下6到15只小猫，新生的小猫一年内就可以发育成熟开始生育。对此，国际上公认的办法是对流浪动物进行捉捕、绝育、放归，这样不仅可以控制流浪猫狗的数目，也可以为它们创造一个相对稳定的环境——避免流动和争斗。

另外一个原因是人类对宠物的遗弃。为此莎拉说，对宠物应该有完备的管理措施。萨拉以意大利为例：每一个宠物会在后颈部皮下植入芯片，记录着主人的姓名和联系方式，遗弃宠物会被追究法律责任。

对于流浪动物带来的疾病问题，莎拉表示狂犬病是唯一会给人类带来生命危险的传染病，其他疾病对人类并无严重伤害。这种传染病可以从动物传染到人类，导致每年全球大约有六万人死亡。

她说，杀死动物绝对不是控制狂犬病的有效办法。在2008年，巴厘岛狂犬病爆发，政府杀死了近20万只狗，当地的疫情反而更严重了。莎拉解释到，流浪动物会在一定的区域内组成团体，团体的数量由该区域的食物资源而决定。一旦该区域的动物被杀掉一部分，就会有其他地方的动物过来争夺食物。这样的流动会带来动物团体之间的争斗，狂犬病更容易扩散。

控制狂犬病最有效的办法是给动物们注射狂犬病疫苗，即从源头上解决问题。被猫狗咬伤的人，即便曾有疫苗的注射经历，仍需再次注射五只疫苗。不过，给猫狗注射的疫苗可以拥有更长的有效期。仍以意大利为例：上世纪60至70年代之间，政府每半年为猫狗们注射一次疫苗，并投掷装有可食用疫苗的食物在街头。这使得狂犬病病例逐渐在意大利销声匿迹。

通常来说，猫狗们不会随便攻击人类。动物不会用人的语言来表达自己，而人却可以通过学习相关的知识去理解它们。“我们应该学会辨认它们的情绪：什么情况下可以亲近，什么情况下最好保持距离。”

莎拉认为，猫狗们作为人类的伙伴共同生存了上千年，我们有责任创造一个人和猫狗能够和谐共处的环境。