Simultaneously to the UAV’s flight, a foot-patrol transect survey was performed and the number of collared and non-collared dogs were recorded. The UAV’s camera was set to regularly take pictures and cover the entire surface of the selected areas. The day after, UAV flight were performed twice during two consecutive days per study site. A door-to-door survey was conducted in which all available dogs were marked with a collar and owner were interviewed. Three studies sites of one square kilometer were selected in Petén department, Guatemala.
In this study, we aimed at investigating the possibility of using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) to estimate the size of free-roaming domestic dog (FRDD) populations and compare the results with two regularly used methods for population estimations: foot-patrol transect survey and the human: dog ratio estimation. Population size estimation is performed for several reasons including disease surveillance and control, for example to design adequate control strategies such as vaccination programs or to estimate a vaccination campaign coverage.
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