*Update: We have been informed of heartbreaking news — some municipalities are defying the law and still killing dogs. Our pilot program to show a positive path forward is now desperately urgent. Thank you for your support - 08/20/2025

For years, homeless dogs and cats in Mongolia endured unthinkable cruelty: poisoned, shot, and left to suffer simply because they had no home. Thanks to In Defense of Animals supporters and our partners at Lucky Paws, we ended the mass killings. Now we must prove that humane spay and neuter is the permanent, effective alternative. Your compassion has launched the next critical phase: an effective spay/neuter pilot program.

Starting in spring, veterinary teams traveled to Mongolia’s second-largest urban center, Darkhan City. It was a journey filled with challenges and triumphs, joy and hardship, laughter and tears, but together, we made history.

Spay & Neuter Pilot Phase 1

• 50 dogs and 30 cats sterilized — preventing the uncontrolled reproduction of an estimated 25,600 dogs and 354,030 cats over the next three years.
• An official meeting with the Darkhan Soum Governor’s Office and Governor T. Tulga of Darkhan-Uul Province, laying the foundation for long-term collaboration.
• Raised real awareness among Darkhan citizens about the benefits of sterilization and responsible guardianship.

In these areas, temperatures plunge to brutal lows in winter, and food is scarce. Puppies and kittens born into these conditions often endure lives cut tragically short.

The surgeries you’ve funded humanely and efficiently prevent suffering before it starts.

Our pilot has proven what we’ve known all along: community-based sterilization works, even in the most remote and challenging rural settings. With your help, Mongolia can set a powerful example for other nations, especially as countries like India, Morocco, and Türkiye backslide into cruel catch-and-kill policies. 

Sterilizing animals is not only the right thing to do for animals, but it’s also the most effective way to protect public health. The World Health Organization’s (WHO) “One Health” approach emphasizes the intrinsic link between human and animal health. It specifically states that culls of free-roaming dogs are ineffective at controlling rabies and recommends mass vaccination as the most cost-effective solution. Our pilot project is fully aligned with WHO guidance and its “Zero by 30” goal to end human deaths from rabies by 2030.

Together, we are protecting public health and animal lives!

Our groundbreaking partnership was made possible through U.S. government funding. But tragically, that funding has now been withdrawn. Without your support, we cannot move forward to our second leg in the rural and remote Bayankhongor Province, and the lives of countless dogs and cats hang in the balance.

We are determined to keep going. Without sustained spay and neuter programs, history could repeat itself. We could see a return to the days when 90,000–100,000 dogs were shot or poisoned each year. We cannot let that happen.

You Can Make the Next Victory Possible

Your gift today will: 

Fund veterinary teams to reach remote communities.

Provide safe anesthesia, pain relief, and sterile equipment for every surgery.

Educate citizens about the benefits of sterilization under the new Pet Law.

We urgently need to raise $6,575 to make phase 2 of our Spay/Neuter pilot, the Bayankhongor mission, happen.

• $60 sterilizes one animal.
• $120 sponsors a full day of operations for a veterinary team.
• $3,290 funds the complete sterilization of an entire province.

Because of you, the killing stopped. Because of you, animals in Darkhan City now have a brighter future. And because of you, we can take this lifesaving work to Bayankhongor and beyond.

Together, we must make sure this victory stands and spreads!

Donate now to help us expand this program and save more lives: www.idausa.org/mongolia