The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that there are more than 200 million stray dogs worldwide and that every year, 55,000 people die from rabies while another 15 million receive post-exposure treatment to avert the deadly disease (http://www.naiaonline.org, 2011).
The International Companion Animal Management Coalition held their 2nd International Conference on Dog Population Management in Istanbul, Turkey March 3-5th, 2015. The Conference aims to promote awareness, discussions and information sharing on Dog Population Management (DPM)). Other primary goals are to provide effective and humane DPM strategies to reduce the incidence of zoonoses, disease of animals which are communicable to humans (http://www.dogpopulationmanagement2015.org/home.html, 2015.
At the 2015 Conference, Amy Greer, Canada Research Chair in Population Disease Modeling and Assistant Professor at the University of Guelph and team members L.M. Kisiel and A. Jones-Bitton representing Department of Population Medicine and Ontario Veterinary College presented "Agent-based Models to Identify and Evaluate Dog Population Strategies." The presentation introduced the basics of agent-based modeling using AnyLogic software, provided modeling examples of simple dog population control strategies and demonstrate the utility of using simulation models to evaluate novel population control strategies.
"Agent-based models developed to describe dog populations represent a unique, platform for using computer based simulation to identify control strategies with the greatest potential for success, aid in the design of more effective control measures, and provide a means to evaluate the success of different interventions. Also, these models can be combined with health economic models to not only examine the effectiveness of different intervention strategies, but also the cost-effectiveness of these strategies." –Amy Greer, University of Guelph
Review the project results, conclusions, and future direction via the papers section of AnyLogic.com
