A disturbing story from Bloomberg News that we posted about on Wednesday — "Detroit's Stray Dog Epidemic: 50,000 Or More Roam The City" — is getting some pushback from Detroit journalist Jeff Wattrick.
"One thing about dogs is they know how to find food. If there was a wild dog for every 14 humans in Detroit, as the 50,000 number would work out to, there wouldn't be a dumpster or restaurant/grocery store alley that wasn't overrun with scavenging dogs. That isn't the reality in Detroit. Occasionally, you'll see a dog but it isn't like seeing birds and squirrels in a park. They aren't literally everywhere."
Wattrick adds that "everyone agrees Detroit has a dog problem," but says the 50,000 stat "makes no sense."
So, does it matter whether the number is inflated? Here's what Wattrick has to say on that point:
"Propagating phony-baloney numbers to spike interest in Detroit's strays may attract attention in the short-run, but in the long-run it can only harm the cause by undermining credibility."
Related: Experts disagree about the 50,000 figure, the Detroit Free Press reports.
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