In late August 2024, an international team from FOUR PAWS conducted a stray dog population survey to assess the dog population in Siem Reap province, Cambodia. The survey covered 12 districts, and our team aimed to gather data on the number of dogs, their health conditions, and any potential issues related to animals in the region. The goal of this survey is to inform future interventions, such as vaccination programs and animal welfare initiatives.  

After weeks of planning, our team gathered in Siem Reap to begin the weeklong survey project. Because dogs are most active early in the morning, the survey was designed to run from sunrise (around 6am) until 10am, when it gets much hotter and most of the dogs seek shade. This meant waking up at 4am, grabbing some water and snacks, then jumping into the back of a tuk tuk or onto a motorbike to head to the start of the survey, sometimes to an area over an hour from the accommodation. The teams worked independently and covered a range of environments, from the urban centre of Siem Reap to the rural villages of the outer provinces. This allowed us to better understand the various dynamics of dog populations in different areas. Using our survey app, we make sure to record every dog we see, noting down their sex, age, body condition and any signs of ownership, such as a collar or harness.

As the sun rose and the dogs were waking up, we counted, and we counted! Some days we saw literally hundreds of dogs! Bouncing along terrible roads and dirt tracks, the tuk tuk pitching from side to side and the poor driver getting beaten and bruised, we glimpsed a side of Cambodia that many tourists never see – the quiet, difficult life of people living in rural villages and communities; farming, labouring, and often struggling to make ends meet. They wake up early, tending to the chickens, cows and water buffalo, or working in the rice fields or farms. There are dogs everywhere, many of them guarding their homes, many of them scavenging to find enough to eat.

People do what they can to take care of them, and I was asked many times if I wanted to take a dog with me to give it a better life. Sadly, I had to say no, but I met so many people who really cared about the dogs, despite not having much to offer them. Access to care and veterinary services is limited and beyond the means of most people. This is why sterilization programs are so important, allowing people access to medical care and preventing population growth in areas where it would be otherwise impossible. Sadly, the economic situation of people goes some way to explain why dog meat traders roam these villages and rural communities – for people who are very poor, the option of trading one dog for some pots, pans or even a small amount of money, can be very tempting. There are so many dogs on the street, and life is hard for many people…. 

Although Siem Reap has banned the dog meat trade, our teams did see a few traders in the smaller villages riding on motorbikes with cages full of dogs on the back. It broke my heart to see one riding past me one morning, in a village where there were friendly kids and dogs playing together, knowing that those ones which had been caught were off to meet a brutal, terrible death. It’s hard to enforce a ban on dog meat trading in such a sprawling, rural area, which is why it’s so important to provide programs which offer alternatives to the issues of overpopulation and unwanted dogs on the street. By supporting the local communities and authorities with a broad range of interventions, we can succeed in ending stray animal issues and the cruel dog meat trade in Siem Reap, and the rest of Cambodia, once and for all.