The Land of No Strays: How One Tiny Country Eradicated Canine Homelessness
Can you guess which country it is?
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-Dr. Sami
Greetings from sunny South America! 🇨🇴
I’ve taken the last few weeks to escape the Dutch winter and work from Medellin, Colombia. It’s been a breath of fresh air and a nice reset to temporarily integrate into a city and culture so different from my own.
As a veterinarian, I’m drawn to animals wherever I go. So of course, the first thing I noted in the City of Eternal Spring was the number of stray dogs on the street.
Oh, right… stray dogs. I haven’t seen those in a while.
For the past 5 years I’ve had the privilege of living in the Netherlands — or utopia, as I like to call it — the first and only country in the world to declare itself free of stray dogs.
That’s right. There are around 200 million stray dogs worldwide, but none of them live in the Netherlands.
Quite a feat for this Mickey Mouse country, which also happens to be one of the most densely populated countries in the world. How’d they do it, you ask? Well, there are a number of social, cultural, and political factors that contributed to their success.
Social collective:
The Netherlands is a social country where people look out for and support each other. There is hardly any homelessness.* People know that homelessness reduces the health and welfare of the entire society, so they don’t like to see it. The same goes for homeless dogs.
*In fact, the Dutch government has an action plan to end human homelessness altogether, too, by the year 2030.
One of the social benefits in the Netherlands is the benefit for veterinary care. If you’re below a certain income threshold and cannot afford basic vet care, you can contact the local government and they’ll throw you a few hundred bucks.
High citizen welfare and living standards:
The quality of life in the Netherlands is extremely high. They have great work-life balance, and people generally make a living wage (or have access to government resources to match it). The cities are — for the most part — clean, safe, and beautiful. High citizen welfare allows them to shift their focus onto the welfare of animals, which isn’t true of most other countries (at least not to the same degree).
Canine-inclusive culture:
Dogs are permitted on public transport and carted through the city in baskets and bakfiets (bike with a giant open cart in the front). Most restaurants and cafés in Amsterdam have a dog bowl outside, and every establishment from the laundromat to the auto body has a jar of dog cookies behind the counter.
Your chariot, my lord. (Source: babboe.com)
Structure of political system:
The Netherlands doesn’t have a bipartisan structure, but a whole plethora of political parties focusing on different issues. One of those parties is the Partij voor de Dieren (Party for Animals), which focuses primarily on animal welfare. No single party can dominate the government, and the winning party has to form a coalition with other parties to come into power. This, at least in theory, increases the chance of a more balanced government.
There are a number of strong animal welfare organizations such as Dierenbescherming (Dutch animal protection agency) and Hondenbescherming (Dutch dog protection agency) which are well-integrated and collaborative with the political parties. In the US many animal welfare organizations are in competition / at odds with each other and with politicians. But that’s less-so the case in the Netherlands.
With the above sociocultural factors at play, The Netherlands was able to gain civil and political buy-in for the animal welfare initiatives necessary to eradicate canine homelessness. These policies and initiatives can also be adopted by other countries.
Here’s how they did it:
Eliminated puppy shops
You can still go to a breeder, but there are no puppy stores in the Netherlands. Higher rates of adoption opened up room in shelters for stray dogs to be taken in.
Implemented a no-kill policy
Shelters across the Netherlands have a no-kill policy, so eradicating stray dogs didn’t come at the cost of their lives. If you need to relinquish your dog, you can do so without fear that they’ll be euthanized. This was an important animal welfare move — but of equal import — shifted pubic opinion on the value of a dog’s life.
Required chipping and registration of all dogs
Every dog in the Netherlands is accounted for, by design — they must all be microchipped and registered with their municipality. In some areas you have to pay a dog tax, but in many other areas the dog tax was abolished. This alleviated some of the financial burden associated with dog ownership.
Implemented strict animal welfare laws
The Netherlands does not mess around when it comes to animal welfare. They recently became one of the first countries in the world to ban brachycephalic dog breeds (smush-faced breeds like English Bulldogs, French Bulldogs, etc.) due to the many welfare concerns associated with these breeds. Offenses against animal abandonment, abuse, and neglect are punishable by a fine of almost 20K and up to 3 years in prison.
Established bureaucratic animal welfare organizations
The government in the Netherlands established a police force just for animals, where the officers respond to crimes against animals and assist in rescue efforts. They also established the Dierambulance (animal ambulance), which is a volunteer effort present in all the major cities. The animal ambulance helps ensure that all pets have access to a veterinarian, and wildlife have a way to reach the vet, too.
Enforced strict breeding regulations
Breeding operations in the Netherlands are closely monitored and required to adhere to ethical breeding practices, so they can’t carelessly pump out puppies without regard for their health and welfare. And these really work — waiting lists for certain dog breeds in the Netherlands can be over a year long, and many people looking for a specific breed have to go to Germany to get the dog they’re looking for.
Even so, unfortunately, puppy mills still pop up from time to time. But the Netherlands doesn’t take this lightly. If you run a puppy mill and are found guilty of abuse or neglect, you’re probably going to prison. Good riddance!
Eradicating stray populations is important and necessary for so many reasons.
For one, stray populations present a major animal welfare concern. These animals do not have access to adequate nutrition, water, or shelter, and are at risk of contracting debilitating diseases and immense suffering. Eradicating strays also improves the overall welfare of human citizens, who do not have to bear witness to animal suffering.
It dually safeguards the physical health of the public (for example, there are also no cases of rabies in the Netherlands).
Wildlife populations are equally protected through stray eradication (did you know that one of the largest threats to wild bird populations is feral cats?).
When it comes to the sociopolitical climate and infrastructure necessary for the enormous feat of stray eradication, I agree, the Netherlands is in a better position than most. That being said, they do serve as a great model for the rest of the world.
For this reason — and so many others — I’m so proud to be a resident of the Netherlands. 🇳🇱
Groeten,
Dr. Sami
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Great story, thanks.
Bravo Sami!
I love your writing! So succinct, and keeps me wanting more!
🩵🩵🩵