The Sri Lanka Animal Welfare Association has warned that the country’s street dog population has risen to between two and three million.

The association noted that this uncontrolled increase has resulted in around 250,000 dog bite cases reported annually.

At a media briefing in Kandy today (12th of November ), Champa Fernando, Secretary of the Kandy Association for Community Protection through Animal Welfare (KACPAW), described the situation as increasingly serious.

“We are sitting on a volcano that is about to erupt,” she said. “This year, Rs. 100 million was allocated in the national budget for dog welfare, which we appreciate. But last year, Rs. 184 million was earmarked for dog population control, and only Rs. 27 million was actually utilized.”

Fernando explained that female dogs give birth twice a year, and currently, there is one dog for every eight people in Sri Lanka. She added that the only effective population control methods are sterilization or culling, but culling was banned in 2006, and sterilization programs began in 2008.

“Sadly, the funds allocated for these programs were not properly used,” she said. “If this continues, the number of stray dogs could soon match the human population. Building dog shelters or crematoriums will not solve the problem.”

Fernando called on the government to implement a national dog registration system and urged the public to support sterilization programs. She further noted that over Rs. 600 million would be required to vaccinate people against rabies.