Campaigners fear increase in dog dumping as recession bites
Animal welfare charities are bracing themselves for a flood of abandoned animals as increasing numbers of owners dump unwanted cats and dogs in the face of growing economic recession.
ASH Animal Rescue reports that they have already experienced a marked increase in the number of homeless animals brought to their centre in Kiltegan, Co. Wicklow.
“So far this year we have rescued an average of 30 cats and kittens and 50 puppies and dogs per month, as a result which we are now at full capacity.” says Remi le Mahieu of ASH.
“If you talk to any animal rescue centre around the country they will tell you the same story. The fear now is that as the economy goes into recession, uncaring owners will make the huge problem with unwanted cats and dogs even worse by simply abandoning their pets. We have even seen a big increase in the number of pure-bred dogs that are being dumped.”
ASH is one a of a nationwide network of animal welfare groups and organisations supporting
Spay Week Ireland 2008, the annual awareness campaign that aims to end Ireland’s high destruction rate of unwanted cats and dogs by encouraging more owners to spay or neuter their pets.
The campaign’s key message this year is that it’s time to break our national addiction to dog destruction, currently averaging 40 dogs per day.
The shocking statistic is based on the most recent figures available from the Department of the Environment, which reveal that 14, 598 unwanted dogs were destroyed in Irish dog pounds in 2006. On a per capita basis, this destruction rate is 25 times higher than our nearest neighbour in the UK.
While no similar figures are available for cats, there is plenty of anecdotal evidence to suggest that Ireland’s stray and abandoned felines die at an even higher rate. According to one estimate, a staggering 180,000 kittens die each year within a week of birth.
According to TV vet and Spay Week organiser Pete Wedderburn, incentivising owners to spay or neuter their pet through a reform of the dog licensing laws holds the key to tackling the crisis.
“Our proposal is to reform the dog licensing system so that it is more effective, including microchipping as part of the licensing arrangment so that stray dogs can be more easily reunited with their owners. As part of the†reforms, a lower licence†fee would be charged for dogs that have been neutered or spayed, to†give owners a financial incentive to†prevent their dogs from breeding,” he said.
Spay Week 2008 is supported by VICAS (Veterinary Ireland Companion Animal Society) and international dog-welfare charity Dogs Trust, which in co-operation with participating vets funds a nationwide subsidised neutering campaign that offers dog owners on means-tested social welfare benefits the opportunity to have their pets spayed or neutered for a nominal fee of €20.
For further information about the Dogs Trust Spay & Neuter scheme, call 1890 946 336.
According to Dogs Trust Ireland, 360 veterinary clinics naionwide are now particiating in the scheme, under which almost 26,000 dogs have been spayed or neutered since the scheme was launched in mid 2006.
For further information about Spay Week 2008, visit: www.spayweekireland.ie
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