Stray Dogs, Public Policy Blunders, and Entrepreneurial Response

Stray dogs, sometimes strolling in herds on the streets of Zanjan, have raised ethical as well as public policy issues since I have become self-conscious about the policy issues of my hometown. In the extremely cold nights of January, you have to get used to the continuous sound of barks that steal sleep from your eyes. It is as if you are living in a village with lots of watch dogs warning you against potential threats. 

A few years ago, as a public policy response to the influx of stray dogs into the city, the authorities put up bounties for killing stray dogs. A few years later, the number of dogs on the streets showed that the policy was a big failure, partly because hardly any bounty hunter, willing to kill dogs to earn a living, could be found. But such a brutal policy towards stray dogs, who reportedly attacked no human beings, raised sympathy towards them, and activists condemned such abnormally harsh policies of the city authorities.

The unintended consequence of such a policy was that it raised considerable awareness about animal welfare and people became kinder and more sympathetic to animals compared to the feelings people had at the time of my childhood towards such animals.

Today, the word of mouth is that a lady, who is an environmental activist and entrepreneur, has proposed to the city authorities that a bounty to be paid to anyone or any company that captures any stray dogs. Then, she buys dogs from the authorities and after taking all necessary veterinary steps, her company exports those dogs to Western countries, particularly Germany, where they are trained and sold to customers.

This is one of the greatest examples of achieving Pareto improvement with a bit of thinking and effort. I understand that the lady has had to overcome so many legal and cultural barriers, especially those related to the trade on dogs, to start that business. Although the number of stray dogs on the streets of the city suggests that the initiative was of a limited success, I salute her achievement in introducing such a humane way of addressing the problem and am proud to be a concitoyen of such an entrepreneurial lady.