The Opportunity:
In my home town of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia there are a ton of dogs and cats wondering around the streets. Most of them lost others may have escaped, one thing is for certain: none of them have any type of identification. The dog pound does nothing about the situation, and if they do pick up some dogs they sacrifice them after a week, they don't care about finding them a new home. So the situation is really bad, there is no regulation what so ever.
Who: Pet owners in Santa Cruz, Bolivia
What: There is no place to buy ID tags for the pets
Why: Nothing is being done for this animals
Testing the Who: The ones affected by my opportunity are the pet owners. On the other hand, every one else is kind of affected by this problem. This animals wonder around the streets some might be sick with rabies or causing accidents in streets because drivers might want to avoid killing them.
Testing the Why: Some of the questions I asked are the following:
1. How often do you see pets in the streets?
2. How does their physical condition look?
3. Does it look like they have been in the street for long time?
4. Why do you think these pets are in these conditions? Are owners irresponsible?
5. Having that said, what do you think the dog pound does about this? Do you think their work is effective?
Why?
There are little or no places that offer the dog tags, furthermore, if this places exist people clearly don't know (none of the people I interviewed knew that there is a place that provides this tags.)
https://soundcloud.com/nicolas-cronenbold/testing-the-opportunity-hypothesis-pt-1
https://soundcloud.com/nicolas-cronenbold/ent-3003-2
https://soundcloud.com/nicolas-cronenbold/ent-3003-3
https://soundcloud.com/nicolas-cronenbold/ent-3003-4
https://soundcloud.com/nicolas-cronenbold/testing-the-opportunity-hypothesis-pt-1-5
Great post Nicholas I truly think that it should be mandatory for dogs to have identification. Two too many times have I had to return a lost dog to it's rightful owner. It was happening chance that I found the lost dogs signs. I honestly loved both of the dogs and wanted to keep them. My dog stays outside all day no leash or fence and has never left us, I think that the dogs are seeking a better lifestyle as crazy as that may seem.
ReplyDeleteGreat post Nicholas I truly think that it should be mandatory for dogs to have identification. Two too many times have I had to return a lost dog to it's rightful owner. It was happening chance that I found the lost dogs signs. I honestly loved both of the dogs and wanted to keep them. My dog stays outside all day no leash or fence and has never left us, I think that the dogs are seeking a better lifestyle as crazy as that may seem.
ReplyDeleteNicolas, this is a great issue you have identified. Considering that there are locations globally that are also struggling with high populations of strays and untagged pets, I am certain that a successful solution could serve as a paradigm and catalyst for other regions around the world. It's very unfortunate that pets are deemed as strays due to their lack of identification, but I have to wonder why this is? Why are people not tagging their pets? Is there something about the demographic region or society which refrains people from noticing this issue or keeps them from addressing it? Why is it so widespread? Is it because there is no cheap or available tagging service? Are locations that provide this service costly for the average resident in areas of dense stray population? I enjoyed reviewing your interviews and believe you chose insightful questions, certainly made me think more about the issue at hand!
ReplyDeleteHi Nicolas - its so sad to think how little some people car about pets. I too think it should be mandatory for pets to have identification. The pound should also be required to neuter the pets that get taken into their facilities and try to find them a home. Overpopulation of stranded animals is big problem I believe, even in the US.
ReplyDelete