New Stray Dog Law In Force From Today.

[Nettie]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtm...4/eadogs104.xml

 

Stray dogs could be left on street with new law

Last Updated: 2:01pm BST 04/04/2008

 

 

 

Stray dogs could be left on the streets when a change in the law comes into force, animal charities have warned.

 

 

Stray dogs may be left on the streets when dog wardens are not available

From Sunday, councils will have sole responsibility for dealing with stray dogs 24 hours a day. Currently, they share responsibility with the police.

 

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said local authorities will be "expected to provide the highest possible level of service possible according to local circumstances".

 

But charities including the Dogs Trust and the RSPCA are concerned that lack of money and the "vague wording" in guidance on the law could leave people who find stray dogs at evenings and weekends without anywhere to go.

 

The problem lies in the new system's provision that authorities must, "where practicable", create 24-hour acceptance points, the Dogs Trust said.

 

Dogs Trust veterinary director Chris Laurence said: "We are concerned that stray dogs may be left wandering the streets during times when dog wardens are not available, such as weekends."

 

There is also a risk that councils could claim that caring for every stray dog is not "practicable", he added.

 

advertisement

The charity's chief executive, Clarissa Baldwin, said that rehoming charities such as the Dogs Trust cannot accept strays from members of the public, but instead dogs have to be signed over by owners or dog wardens.

 

"Sadly, many people are unaware that local authorities have the right to destroy a dog after seven days," she said. "Dogs Trust never destroys a healthy dog and we help as many strays as we can.

 

"This is a timely reminder to dog owners to make sure their dog is under control at all times."

 

The RSPCA is urging dog owners to help prevent their dogs from straying and have their pets permanently identified with a microchip.

 

The charity said that while some councils will provide an excellent stray dogs service, it is concerned that others will not have enough money and that animal welfare will suffer as a result.

 

The RSPCA's senior local government adviser Piers Claughton said: "The Government has not allocated enough money to local authorities to deal with stray dogs effectively and I fear it will have a massive impact on animal welfare."

 

He added: "Councils are not expected to provide a collection service out-of-hours, merely a reception centre. This could be some distance from the town or city centre, forcing members of the public to travel long distances with a 'found' dog or care for it until the council can collect it."

 

Defra said the policy had changed in response to requests from local government and the police, and to allow councils to provide a "more comprehensive service as the single authority with responsibility".

 

A spokeswoman said: "Except for this transfer of responsibility, the law on stray dogs remains the same.

 

"Local authorities will take a decision on what is a suitable level of service in their circumstances, and are expected to provide the highest possible level of service possible according to local circumstances."

 

She said that £4 million is being allocated to local authorities to take on the extra responsibility.

 

"Both the police and local authorities are well informed of the changes and the implementation date as well as the funding arrangements and the expectations that will be placed on them once the change commences," the spokeswoman said.

 

"Dog welfare organisations were fully involved in the development of the legislation and supported one authority having responsibility for dealing with strays rather than two."

[ranirottie]

currently our dog warden only works 9 till 5 and our police have always been very reluctant to pick up strays. Luckily we do not have a stray problem in our village and if a dog is found the people usually bring it to me and I hold it till the dog warden can collect it, but that is not always possible. Are dog wardens going to work weekends now, ours doesn't at the moment. x

[ReikiAnge]

This concerns me a great deal. I think I will contact our dog warden this week and see what's happening in our area. The strays in our area are pretty fortunate but the same can't be said for many other areas. If we found a dog out of hours we'd do our best to hold the dog somewhere overnight, even if I had to sleep in the car with them or something, but I can't see everyone doing that, so surely this will end up with more dogs on the street and more risk of RTAs being caused?

 

Does this mean that the police will no longer even hold details of dogs that are lost, does anyone know? Even if the dog isn't handed into them?

 

Would be interested to hear from doglost peeps about what they feel the implications are of this? Are things as bleak as they sound?

[Brunzara]

No, from what I believe the Dog Wardens will work the same hours as before but rather than members of the public taking the dogs to police stations they will have to go to allocated kennels instead (in our areas they will go to the kennel who had the police contracts anyway).

 

So, I don't think it will affect us much except that the kennels are a long way to go to for some of the areas who the "pound" we work with deal with, this means that people may hold onto the dogs for the dog wardens to collect instead, which means that they will come to us instead of the other kennels so maybe slightly more dogs will come in??

 

Does this mean that the police will no longer even hold details of dogs that are lost, does anyone know? Even if the dog isn't handed into them?

 

The police will still be taking details of lost and found dogs

[Sherlock Bones]

Not necessarily Ange, it's not good, admittedly but it depends upon the area in which you live. Slowly we are contacting each and every council to find out their policy. It also depends on the police force, too. Kent for example are trying to convince all local stations to keep their kennels despite not having the responsibility. They may well continue to keep lost records, but it depends. Our recommendation is that you call the police to report a lost/found dog in any case but don't expect it to be at their station for collection.

 

Each council has to provide 24/7 cover WHERE POSSIBLE. it isn't obligatory - and that's where the system fails. Those councils who can't afford to pay for cover 24/7 won't - and that means strays are going to have noone to care for them until 9am.

 

Yes the likelyhood is that more dogs will be on the streets, more accidents will be caused, and more dogs will die, and it will be much harder to find your missing dog.

 

Police remain responsible for stolen dogs and for DDA cases.

[Sherlock Bones]

PS I should add that we have been meeting Kent Police for a number of months now, in order to collaborate with them on stolen dog issues: this scheme is launched today - but when we were invited in to discuss dog issues with them, the officer concerned had absolutely no idea that the stray dog laws had changed. If the police don't know... what hope is there?

[Nettie]

If you're in the London area then Battersea Dog and Cats Home will take in dogs (and cats come to that) 24/7 provided you can get the animal to them. In Wandsworth we have 6 full time and 6 part time dog wardens, 24/7 cover which is ironic in as much as BDCH is in the next door borough.

[Happylittlegreensquirrel]

Milton Keynes council state they are trying to improve the service they offer

 

prior to April 6th anyone finding a dog out of hours had to take it to our police station ( which does have kennels )

 

 

now they have an out of hours dog wardens number and they aim to collect dogs from the person who finds them within a few hours ( which is very helpful for people who can't get to the police station ) , they are also working on a new register of stray dogs that they aim to add onto there website as well

 

 

the numbers for MK Dog Wardens are

 

 

Office Hours ( 8 am - 5 pm ) 01908 252187

out of office hours 01908 226699

[Brunzara]

Forgot to say............out of hours in the areas we work with is only up to 10pm as in this statement:

 

Across East Lancashire (including, Blackburn, Darwen, Hyndburn, Rossendale, Burnley, Ribble Valley and Pendle) you can use your normal Dog Warden Service during 9am to 5pm Mondays to Fridays. If you find a dog during the hours of 5pm - 10pm (Monday - Friday) and 10am - 4pm (Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays) you can ring your local councils out of hours service who will give you the relevant information to deal with the dog.

 

Outside of those hours....................????

 

With regards to Rochdale, the area I live in, I don't have a clue what's happening BUT I would never have taken a dog to Rochdale Police Station anyway and I know that the police did try to dissuade people from leaving dogs there due to the state of the kennels.

[Kathyw]

We have mostly taken lost/stray dogs straight to Battersea, the odd one to the local police - never to the animal warden.

Our animal warden is a waste of space and if called about a stray dog wouldn't bother to call back or come and collect - he is always sooooo busy (with his private puppy training classes no doubt), despite having a staff of people to help.

 

We are lucky that we have Battersea.

[BillyMalc]

A few weeks ago a neighbour found a stray dog on a Saturday morning. We took him to my vet, who was the only one who was open in our area and has a scanner. Dog was microchipped, but the details were either false or out of date - or the guy who answered the phone was lying. Any case, as they don't have 24 hour care, we had to take him with us again, and fortunately found someone who could have him for a few days. The vet nurse told us though, that Manchester city council charges them £80 if they are asked to pic up a dog from them, that's been left / handed in to them!! :ohmy: I think that's disgusting, surely a vet can't help it if someone dumps their animal on them? And we were lucky to have someone who was able to have the dog for a few days, because all the concerned neighbours have dogs themselves, and although he was a lovely dog, none of our dogs seemed to get along with him Apparently the chap's now been reunited with his owners, after having spent a few days in Manchester Dogs Home (admitted on Monday after having registered the dog with the police), but this was not because of any involvement or care by the authorities. £4 million to be spread out over the whole country to help with animal welfare is just pathetic and once again shows the level (or lack) of compassion this government has for our animal population.

[ReikiAnge]

Our council site still states to contact the dog warden 9-5 and that outside of these hours to take the dog to a police station as they are legally obliged to accept it. I think the site needs updating.

 

I did buy a microchip scanner recently, just for checking the chips on my own dogs are still working, but maybe it will come in handy in the future if we find any strays that happen to be chipped (I know I can't get owner contact details but I could at least advise Petlog that I have a dog with x chip no presumably).