Motor City Gone to the Dogs? Nope, Expert Says

A Dearborn native says reports of dog packs on the loose in Detroit are greatly exaggerated and he intends to prove it.

Tom McPhee, executive director of the World Animal Awareness Society, expects data collected in March will put the number of stray dogs far below the 50,000 estimated in Rolling Stone and Bloomberg media accounts of the roiling poverty that caused Detroit residents to abandon their homes and, sometimes, their pets.

That’s not to suggest stray dogs aren’t a problem, but McPhee told MLive the population of strays in the Motor City is probably closer to 1,000 dogs. He estimated the number of packs at 10.

McPhee and his team took an informal dog census in September, fanning about 40 volunteers across the city with smartphones to capture images and video of stray dogs and to map where they’re roaming as part of the American Strays Canine Survey.

“We gotten sidelined because we’ve paid attention to some headlines that basically say there’s this many gazillion dogs, and they are causing the problem,” he said.

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Among the aims of the surveys is to provide an immediate connection to the specific issues in each neighborhood, allowing our teams to assist in developing resolutions, like the Good Pet Guardian Lesson Plans for Detroit and other elementary school aged children.

That program helps educate pet owners about how to properly care for their dogs.

“I call this almost a “Lord of the Flies” effect,” McPhee told MLive. “As there were less and less good neighbors (in Detroit due to blight, population loss, other factors) people were off to their own devices to handle things — everything from putting chains on their dogs for leashes and collars to everything in between.

“It’s not something that can be fixed with some slogan or propaganda or any sort of police state actions or extreme licensure.”

Data from the September survey will be shared with government and non-governmental organizations to develop effective solutions to the stray dog problem.

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Photo via Shuttestock