Community Plan for Management of Street Dogs and Stray Dogs in Urban Community: A Case of Phetchabun Municipality, Phetchabun

Abstract

This article has two main objectives: 1) to study problems, barriers and needs of urban residents towards street and stray dogs; and 2) to develop a pilot community strategic plan for the management of street and stray dogs in Phetchabun Municipality. The research method of participatory action research (PAR) consisting of workshops, in-depth interview, and participatory observation was adopted to collect the data. The target groups are 20 municipal officials and 50 stakeholders living in the urban communities. The conceptual framework is based on the concept
of engage management and coaching approach. The findings revealed two important issues. The first issue concerns with 3 levels of problems and needs: 1) the individual level includes the lack of public awareness and engagement of individuals, complaints, needs and suffering caused by street dogs include rabies, road accidents, dog bites, noise and air pollutions, 2) the organizational level includes the lack of policy driving into effective implementation, and 3) the structural level includes the barriers from policy and law related to community dogs’ management. The second issue concerns with the community plan consisting of 3 strategies: 1) the annual community dog population database with proper registration and monitoring, 2) the effective systematic management including the conduction of research, vaccination against rabies, and dog registration, and 3) the community engagement systems including participatory community charter, community volunteer network, and hotline communication system at the municipality area for fast track management in case of an emergency.