Around 70-80% of the estimated 1,598 dogs residing on the Northwestern tip of Tongatapu will be de-sexed this year under the new “Project Kuli” program organized by the South Pacific Animal Welfare (SPAW).

The program will run in three mass de-sexing clinics, with the first one week clinic starting on 23 March, the second on 20 April, and the third on 18 May. Two follow-up clinics will be held in August and November.

The project's aim is to stabilize the canine population in the northern and western areas of Tongatapu.

The de-sexing program is the result of a dog population survey that was completed in October 2019 by Environmental and Animal Sciences Lecturer Dr Glenn Aguilar, from the Unitec Institute of Technology in Auckland, New Zealand, and three staff from the Tongan Ministry of Agriculture.

Glenn became involved in the dog survey through Unitec’s relationship with SPAW, where staff and students in the Unitec veterinary program travel to Tonga each year to provide veterinary services.  His team focussed on 12 villages on the Northwestern tip over three days, driving and recording data about each dog such as sex, condition and size. The team counted around 1,598 dogs in the area.

“I took photos and uploaded all of the data to the exact location on the map so we could develop a picture of where the dogs were located in each town. The data gives statistics such as the ratio of dog to human ration and dog to kilometre,” said Glenn.

Dogs that appeared to be pregnant or nursing were also recorded by Glenn, who presumed there was a litter of puppies hidden nearby that he couldn’t see. He also found large groups of dogs in some locations, where local people were feeding them.

The team had attempted to do the survey on foot during an initial pilot survey in December 2017 but found that some dogs were aggressive.

“Dogs are territorial so we found we couldn’t go on foot. Even inside the car, we kept the windows shut because the dogs sometimes approached us.” he said.

The data collected will assist SPAW in implementing the de-sexing program this year.