The Chucho dilemma

Stray dogs, aka Chuchos, are a really big problem in this country. There isn't a pet culture here--when people raise animals, it's for food or income. There simply aren't the resources to own, feed, and care for domestic pets. Understandable. What I can't understand, however, is the treatment of stray dogs. Yes, they are wild, and sometimes dangerous (if they're rabid and bite), and they are always scrounging and begging for food. They multiply like crazy. They get hit and killed by microbuses, they get into noisy fights at night…people hate chuchos. Kids throw rocks at them, adults kick them…I think the word Chucho might come from the ch-ch sound people make to shoo the dogs away. But with all these problems, there's no sort of movement in place to stray/neuter or impound these strays…the problem just continues. On more than one occasion I've come across a starving, dying dog in the road. It's heartbreaking.
The other morning I was walking over towards the market and passed by two dead dogs, both sprawled on the road with blood coming out of their mouths. I figured they had been hit by a car or been in a dog fight, but after talking to a volunteer friend yesterday, I have another theory. Apparently in an attempt to control the stray population, an extermination effort has been put into place in which drivers pass through areas in the middle of the night throwing poisoned bread into the streets. The hungry dogs eat the bread, and the truck passes through again in the early morning to pick up the bodies. I'm pretty sure that's what had happened to those two dogs I saw.

Now I understand that in developing countries such as this one, human lives must be put before animal welfare, but this is an atrocity. So many things could go wrong with this…other animals could eat the poison…children could get their hands on it. And in the long run, extermination in this manner isn't going to solve the problem. These dogs breed too quickly. Unfortunately, I don't have a better answer. There aren't the resources to impound the strays, and nobody wants to take responsibility for these animals. I'm afraid of most chuchos and know a few volunteers who have already been attacked and bit (luckily we were all vaccinated against rabies). But it's just so sad.