Public perspectives on strays and companion animal management in Malaysia

BMC Public Health (2023) 23:1428 Munir et al. BMC Public Health https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-16276-5 Open Access RESEARCH Public perspectives on strays and companion animal management in Malaysia Syafiq Munir Ismail Munir1 , Mohd Istajib Mokhtar1*   and Ahmad Firdhaus Arham2*    Abstract Strays and companion animal management is a sensitive issue in Malaysia that incites solid and conflicting views. Through structured questionnaires administered to a random sample of 704 respondents, this study explored public opinion on a) causes of the stray animal population, b) the management of the stray animal population, and c) the national strategy on strays and companion Animal Management. The results show that 70.3% of respondents agreed that a lack of public awareness regarding animal care was the major contributor to the stray animal population. In addition, 58.1% of respondents felt that treating and vaccinating animals exposed to zoonotic diseases is a viable approach that could be instituted as a reasonable measure in stray animal population management. Finally, developing animal protection areas through a multi-stakeholder partnership strategy initiative recorded the highest support (48.4%) for intervention planning for stray animal management at a national level. Notably, a significant percentage of public responses were implicitly influenced by demographic variables. These findings provide valuable insights into public opinion regarding stray and companion animal management in Malaysia. These findings could inform the development of future legislation aimed at reducing the unfavorable effects of stray animal populations on humans and the ecology of Malaysia. Keywords Companion Animal Management, Strays, Animal Overpopulation, Animal Regulation and Implementation, Urban Ecology Sustainability, Malaysia Introduction The current scenario regarding the global stray animal population is overwhelming. The evidence shows that dog populations are estimated to total 900 million [1, 2], 83% of which are unrestrained [3]. The worldwide feral cat population is estimated at least 100 million, including *Correspondence: Mohd Istajib Mokhtar Ahmad Firdhaus Arham 1 Department of Science and Technology Studies, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 2 Pusat Pengajian Citra Universiti, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, UKM, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia about 60 million in the United States [4]. In Malaysia, cats and dogs are the two most popular terrestrial animals chosen as a pet [5]. The ownership of dogs stood at 402,500 and cats at 795,000 in 2018 [6, 7]. At the same time, recent development shows that Malaysia was one of the top 10 countries where the pet humanization rate had spiked in 2020 from the past five years [8]. Chances for owned pets to be assimilated and diffused into the stray animal population are possible if the owner cannot control the excess number of animals, ineffective containment until the animal freely escapes to the external environment, irresponsible breeding, and improper pet care. All these factors have sped up feral and stray animal populations blooming. While the number of stray dogs and cats in Malaysia is still unknown, it is believed © The Author(s) 2023. 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The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativeco mmons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data. Munir et al. BMC Public Health (2023) 23:1428 the numbers are tremendous, totaling approximately 6 million and 5 million, respectively, compared to the number of owned pet dogs and cats in the country [9]. Moreover, companion animals such as cats and dogs can have both positive and negative effects on the social community. On one hand, they can provide companionship and emotional support in human-animal interaction contributing to better well-being [10]. However, when their numbers are out of control or overpopulated, they can also pose a threat to public health and safety. They can transmit zoonoses [11, 12], including rabies [13, 14], leishmaniasis [15], toxocariasis [16], giardiasis, and other zoonotic parasites that negatively affect the health and well-being of both humans and animals. Additionally, stray animals create issues pertaining to waste, sanitation and street nuisance. They often suffer from road accidents and injuries [17–19]. Therefore, issues related to strays and companion animal management are part and parcel of various multifaced science and social problems that require direct public understanding when creating a management strategy. Regarding intervention implementation, the Malaysian regulations on dog culling do not necessarily align with the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) standards on animal welfare. Consequently, it reduces the overall score in the Animal Protection Index (API) 2020 which signifies a reduction in Malaysia’s legislation and policy commitment to protect animals. While the OIE accepts that euthanasia of strays may be required, it is the last resort for animals that cannot be re-homed. Adoption and re-homing should be prioritized according to OIE standards [20]. Limited research in Malaysia regards to stray animal management and measure implementation related to it was identified. Previous research focused on the existence of microbes that potentially causes transmissible zoonotic disease from one animal to another species, including cats, dogs, and humans [21, 22]. Another study recently focused on assessing and comparing stray cats’ health conditions between 4 different localities in Johor and identified the existence of six different stray cat breeds in the State [23]. A previous study by Yong (2015) focuses on addressing the approach and conveying suggestions about managing the problems and issues caused by the overpopulation of stray cats in the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) campus [24]. The study was conducted restrictedly within a specific university campus. Thus, it lacks taking phenomena that could contribute to increasing stray numbers, such as limitin (...truncated)