Its Officially Official! MSU Signs Partner Deal With WA2S For American Strays Canine Census Research!

It is officially official!  Michigan State University and the World Animal Awareness Society signed an $18k agreement to partner on the American Strays Canine Census and co-publish a peer reviewed paper and film the process for the American Strays Feature Documentary. The WA2S is responsible for $12k which still needs to be raised, and MSU is granting the other $6k.

Here is what Michigan State University's CSTAT department brings to the party as co-authors of the Canine Census:

Objectives
1. Obtain population estimates of feral dogs in the Detroit area.
2. Develop statistical models relating land cover and land use in the Detroit area with feral dog population estimates.
3. Use statistical models to project spatial patterns of dog populations across areas not Update surveyed.

Methods
Initial survey data provided by the World Animal Awareness Society will be coded and georeferenced in order to cross reference survey data with patterns of land use and land cover. This will allow us to build models relating spatial patterns in land cover to stray populations.

We will obtain a detailed land cover map of the Detroit area that will allow us to measure a number of important land cover features that might be related to stray dog populations. Such features will include measures of human habitation density (e.g., number of houses, number of apartment buildings), We will obtain maps from sources which have a number of GIS data sources available. We will focus on data in thematic maps that have information about city, state, vacant, and occupied land within the city’s boundaries.

Statistical models will be developed to describe the relationship between dog counts taken in neighborhoods within Detroit and the land cover data obtained from thematic maps. These models can be used to project counts in areas not sampled or under-sampled in the initial survey data.

The process will be filmed and become part of the documentary, American Strays. It is both MSU and WA2S's objective to make the data "bullet proof" and assemble a useful tool box for animal NGO's the world over with help from Data Driven Detroit - D3.

Stay tuned for more updates and watch this little teaser for American Strays, "How Many American Strays?"