| 16.500 dogs put down in 'Death Row' pounds - Irish Independent |
| ANIMAL welfare campaigners have criticised our 'Death Row' dog pounds after it was revealed that more than 16,500 dogs were put down last year. This means that, on average, 317 dogs, most of them healthy, were destroyed each week during 2005. While the figures are down slightly from 2004, the number of dogs held in pounds has actually increased by more than 700. Ireland is now resorting to exporting the problem. Several thousand dogs unable to find a new home here are being rehomed in Sweden, Italy and England each year. Commenting on the figures from the Department of the Environment, Miriam Anderson of animal welfare group ANVIL said dogs face a "geographical lottery" for their survival. The worst offender was Limerick city, where almost all stray and abandoned dogs were put down. Of the 957 dogs in the city's pound last year, just two were rehomed or reclaimed, with the rest destroyed. Counties Kerry, Mayo and Tipperary also fare badly, with destruction rates of 90pc or more. Dublin city, Fingal, south Dublin and Louth have some of the best rehoming records in the country, largely due to their work with animal rescue groups. Of the 1,734 dogs surrendered or seized last year, over 80pc were rehomed or reclaimed in Dublin city. Gina Hetherington of PAWS described Limerick as a "hellhole for animals" and told how a local rescue group recently came to the aid of a dog after children were found hammering nails into its stomach. "When we started PAWS in 1997, there was very little in the way of animal rescue on a national scale, and there were 35,000 dogs being destroyed then. Now it's gone down by half but there is still a huge problem out there," she said. Breda Heffernan http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=9&si=1706689&issue_id=14769 |