Dog Abundance/Roundup in Kyle, SD, on the Pine Ridge Reservation — 61a — Shikayla Faubion with Camille Griffith, Dana Gehring, Oglala Lakota College

There is an overabundance of “rez dogs” who do not have homes and run in packs, although they are still reliant upon humans for food, love and shelter. Some are in Kyle, SD, and other communities on the Pine Ridge Reservation. This results in diseases and over population of the animals due to uncontrolled reproduction and lack of veterinary care. At the same time, dog population control strategies are limited to veterinary services on Pine Ridge to twice-annual spay and neuter clinics and roundups which are expected to be effective. I hypothesize that there will not be a decrease in the abundance of dogs between 2019 and 2023 despite these animal control strategies. Data was collected between October- January in 2019 and 2023. Thirteen trail cameras (motion-sensitive trail cameras Digit Now BR693) were installed in 2019 and eight in 2023 at sites equally distributed two hundred meters apart through the town of Kyle (population 1,504). Cameras were initially deployed on fence T-posts at a height of 1m, however theft of cameras and limited field of vision prompted a change in strategy, and cameras were re-deployed on utility poles at a height of 3m using ladders. Camera images were recorded for a 4-day period. Each camera deployed recorded images which were manually reviewed and sorted to produce a data set of only those images containing dogs. Counts of individual dogs from each trail camera were recorded in an Excel spreadsheet to yield raw abundance estimates. Data from 2019 through 2023 was processed in the R statistical software suite using the unmarked, AICcmodavg, and ggplot2 packages to produce and plot three abundance models. The model that included distance to house in 2019 was a better predictor than distance to store but in 2023 the distance to store was a better model then distance to house. My second hypothesis did not get to be tested but there is personal beliefs from the reservation that the abundance did not decrease with the roundups,  also spay and neuter clinics that only happen twice a year instead of consistency.The data from this study will be valuable for improving the delivery of veterinary services on the Pine Ridge reservation and may provide insights into the ecology and behavior of rez dogs. Determining the abundance of dogs in these communities will assist veterinarians and inform the need in targeting effective and ethical overpopulation control such as targeted spay, neutering, and roundups.

Oglala Lakota College
Cami Griffith