
If it's anything like the general populations attitudes in Poland no more than 20 years ago, most dogs were either kept chained or free to roam about in much the way cats do here.
No-one neutered them, kittens and puppies were either drowned/disposed of, or some reared and given away.
The shelters were more like concentration camps, mopping up nuisance strays, or owner hand ins. Attitudes to dogs and cats were very casual, unless it was an expensive or pampered pedigree. Economically people barely could lock after themselves and their families, housing is still very overcrowded do pets come way down the list of priorities.
There really are worse things than death.
In these kind of situations I would be all for encouraging the vet training centres to offer to neuter all feral and latchkey dogs and of course cats, and encourage owners to do so unless kept confined to their own property.