Stray Animals Management System Final Year Project

• Secure admin login in this final year project
• JWT-based authentication
• Admin role-based access
• Admin dashboard
• View platform metrics
• View animal statistics
• View user statistics
• View pending adoption statistics
• Quick links for platform operations
• Manage animal reports
• Read all animal records
• Search animal records
• Filter animal records
• Update animal type
• Update animal condition
• Update animal status
• Update treatment details
• Update animal description
• Update animal address
• Delete any animal record
• Manage adoption applications
• View all adoption applications
• Filter adoptions by status
• Approve adoption applications
• Reject adoption applications
• Add review notes
• Delete adoption records
• Manage users
• Create user accounts
• View user list
• Update user roles
• Update user profiles
• Reset user password
• Delete users
• Prevent self-delete where implemented
• Access NGO dashboard where allowed
• Full platform control over users, animals, adoptions, and statistics

The admin console includes overview, animals, adoptions, and users modules, with CRUD and review actions across platform records

• Citizen signup in this final year project
• Citizen login
• JWT-authenticated user session
• Protected user dashboard
• Personal overview dashboard
• View personal stats
• View recent animal reports
• View recent adoption activity
• Report stray or injured animal
• Upload animal photo
• AI-based image detection suggestion
• Add animal details
• Add location address
• Add latitude and longitude
• Review and submit animal report
• View own animal reports
• Edit own report while status is pending
• Delete own report while status is pending
• View animal catalog
• Search animal reports
• Filter animals by status
• Filter animals by type
• Filter animals by condition
• View animal detail page
• Open map link from animal details
• Apply for adoption when animal is rescued and user is logged in
• View adoption applications
• Cancel pending adoption applications
• Use AI assistant
• Ask animal care questions
• Ask reporting-related questions
• Ask adoption-related questions
• Update profile
• Update name
• Update phone number
• Access public landing page
• Access public animal catalog
• Access animal detail pages

The citizen portal includes overview, reports, adoptions, report animal wizard, AI assistant, and profile modules.

NGO Features in this Final Year Project

• NGO login
• NGO dashboard
• Role-based NGO access
• View pending animal reports
• View full animal list reference
• Mark animals as rescued
• View rescued animals
• Add treatment notes
• View adoption requests
• Approve adoption requests
• Reject adoption requests
• Coordinate rescue workflow
• Manage rescued animal status
• Work with adoption review queue
• Access NGO panel from /ngo
• Admin can also access NGO dashboard where allowed

The NGO dashboard includes animal reports, my rescues, and adoption requests modules.

Other Features in this Final Year Project

• Full-stack MERN architecture
• React 18 frontend
• React Router 6 routing
• Axios API communication
• CSS design system
• Node.js backend
• Express 4 REST API
• MongoDB database
• Mongoose 8 ODM
• JWT authentication
• bcrypt password hashing
• Multer image upload
• express-validator validation
• Optional OpenAI API integration
• GPT-4o-mini chatbot support
• AI image classification support
• Protected routes
• Role-based access control for user, NGO, and admin
• Public marketing website
• Public landing page
• Public animal catalog
• Public animal detail page
• Animal rescue lifecycle: pending → rescued → adopted
• Adoption application review workflow
• Animal report images stored under uploads
• Medium-sized seed dataset
• Production-style single server support
• React build served by Express in production mode

The uploaded documentation lists React, Node.js, Express, MongoDB, Mongoose, JWT, bcrypt, Multer, express-validator, and optional OpenAI as the technology stack.

Technology Used in this Final Year Project

Step 1: Open project folder

cd "Stray Animals MERN"

Step 2: Install dependencies

npm run install-all

Step 3: Create environment file

For Windows:

copy .env.example .env

For macOS/Linux:

cp .env.example .env

Step 4: Configure environment variables

Create .env in the project root and update:

PORT=5001
MONGODB_URI=mongodb://localhost:27017/stray_animals
JWT_SECRET=your_strong_random_secret
OPENAI_API_KEY=your_openai_api_key
GOOGLE_MAPS_API_KEY=

For the frontend, create client/.env:

REACT_APP_API_URL=http://localhost:5001/api

OPENAI_API_KEY is optional. Without it, the UI still works with fallback messages for AI features.

Step 5: Seed the database

npm run seed

The seed command clears existing users, animals, and adoptions, then inserts a medium test dataset with approximately 10 users, 17 animals, and 11 adoption records.

Step 6: Run the backend

npm run dev

Backend URL:

http://localhost:5001

Step 7: Run the frontend

Open a second terminal and run:

npm run client

Frontend URL:

http://127.0.0.1:3001

The documentation notes that the client defaults to port 3001 to avoid conflicts with port 3000.

Production Build

cd client && npm run build && cd ..
set NODE_ENV=production
npm start

In production-style mode, Express serves the React build and API on the same port.

Password for all seeded accounts:

password123

Admin Login

NGO Login

Citizen / User Login