Dog and Cat population management within the One Welfare framework: A retrospective look Bogotá 2004 to 2021

Objective. To analyze the population management of dogs and cats in Bogota between 2004 and 2021 within the “One Welfare” framework. Materials and Methods. This is a retrospective, descriptive study that includes an analysis of public and private interventions related to the sterilization, adoption, and slaughter of companion animals, discriminating by location, species, sex, and sector (public or private). The available information was organized using Excel®, with a descriptive analysis and results expressed in frequencies, proportions, and rates. Results. Between 2004 and 2021, 750.949 cats and dogs were sterilized in the public sector and 217.276 in the private sector; 22.126 were adopted through the district adoption program, 101.165 animals were slaughtered, of which 8.8% were cats; after the year 2005 cats were included in the population estimates and after 2014 information was collected from private veterinarians (sterilization) who contributed with the 29% of the total number of interventions. Conclusions. The population growth of animals demands health, policies, and environmental attention, and its ethical management must be kept, although it should be complemented with actions from various sources where these animals live. The One Welfare approach is a method that recognizes the interconnections between animal, human, and environmental welfare and facilitates interdisciplinary collaboration to improve their welfare, as well as complements and communicates with One Health. This paper contributes, therefore, by presenting in an organized and compared way the available management statistics, for the decision-makers and the interested community.