Increase in Abandoned Dogs

I don't think anyone will be really surprised by this ...

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/21/20090909...d-6323e80.html

The number of stray dogs picked up by local authorities has risen by 11% in the last year. According to a report from the Dogs Trust, the increase to 107,228 animals is the biggest rise recorded since its records began in 1997.

The Dogs Trust blamed the situation on the fact police in England and Wales no longer have statutory responsibility for stray dogs after the law changed last year, as well as the possible impact of the recession.

With the survey showing more than 9,310 unclaimed dogs were destroyed by local authorities in the last year, the charity is calling on the Government to introduce compulsory microchipping for all dogs in the UK.

It hopes this will reduce the problem and help reunite owners with their lost pets and trace abandoned pets back to irresponsible owners.

According to the Trust, 31% of stray dogs that were returned to their owners in the last year did so with the help of microchips.

The 2009 Stray Dog Survey, conducted by GfK NOP on behalf of Dogs Trust, suggested that on average 12 stray and abandoned dogs an hour are handled by local authorities.

Each hour, five are reunited with their owners, three are taken to welfare organisations, one is rehomed from local authority kennels, two are in kennels for their seven day holding period and one dog is put to sleep, according to the Trust.

Microchipping would enable lost or stray dogs to be reunited promptly with their owners through clear identification and reduce kennelling costs, the Dogs Trust said.

Dogs Trust invests approximately £5 million each year in neutering, microchipping and education programmes, with 307,000 dogs neutered and 228,500 microchipped since the campaigns began in 1999.

I'm not surprised that there is an increase in abandoned dogs however I do not think it has anything to do with the police no longer dealing with strays and everything to do with the recession!
Pleased to see that nearly a 3rd of all dogs are returned to their owners because of their chips and totally agree with making it compulsory.
However, bit surprised at the relatively low numbers of dogs chipped by the Dogs Trust over 10 years! I would have thought it would have been higher than that!
Becky

Sad to read. I'd be great if microchipping could be made compulsory.
I remember when we went to look for a dog at our local shelter that the lady said they had 300 people waiting to come in to hand their dogs in. I know these aren't strays but I wonder how many of them ended up as strays because the people didn't want to wait for space to come available.

I wondered about the police comment as well and wish they had provided an explanation. The only thing i could think of (and its a bit weak) is whether people might have thought they would be in more trouble if their stray dog was caught by the police rather than a dog warden

It could also affect the temporary numbers of dogs in shelters....because some dog wardens only work 9-5 mon-fri, if a dog is found on a Friday evening, it might be in kennels for 3 days before being returned to its owner, whereas assuming the police were accessible 24/7, perhaps these dogs were returned to their owners sooner?

I know Rescues are really struggling with huge numbers of strays and hand-ins - especially older dogs and Staffies. Very sad.

Its not surprising unfortunatly.

I got a shock yesterday, i went into a vets yesterday to put up an ad for my walking business, anyway the board was overflowing and i mean overflowing with dogs free to good homes. I asked the receptionist if these were old ads and she said no cos the board had been redone a week and a half ago!!

I think compulsary microchipping is a good idea why isnt it already!

Not surprised at all, i can only go on how busy we are this year, we rehomed around 200 springers last year, between November and the end of January this year we had 75 through our doors, which is ridiculous for a breed rescue, we never have any less than a dozen dogs looking for homes, with many more on stand by waiting to come in, this ranges from strays, (my current foster is a stray), 12 week old puppies and of course the oldies. We are also finding many more coming in with medical conditions either what we are told about, or what old owners neglect to tell us about we think folk just can't afford the vet treatment

That makes very depressing reading, and makes me even more determined that my next dog will be a rescue.

I also think compulsory microchipping is an excellent idea.

I too think that compulsory microchipping is the way to go but to be honest I can not imagine how it could possibly be enforced?

I think that dogs should have to be chipped and licensed and have a system like with cars where it was a legal requirement to notify a central body of a change of ownership.

But I suspect I'm more likely to seeing a flying pig

J.