A ‘Dogs Reunited’ style website could be set up in a bid to match missing mutts with their worried owners.

Bradford Council is considering the move, which would see photographs of impounded dogs published online for people to search through.

And one councillor is keen for the idea to be extended to cats.

The Telegraph & Argus exclusively revealed last month that 557 unclaimed stray dogs were put down by the Council in less than three years.

Out of the 1,700 dogs seized by wardens over that period, 519 were reclaimed by owners, 421 were adopted from kennels and 121 were sent to animal rescue organisations.

Councillor Michelle Swallow (Lab, Clayton and Fairweather Green) plans to ask about the idea of setting up a lost pets website at the meeting of the full Council next week.

Councillor Andrew Thornton, executive member for the environment, said officers were already looking into the feasibility of a website for found dogs.

He said: “If we can do it, we will.”

Coun Thornton said it could not just help worried owners see if their dog had been picked up by Council wardens, but could also help to get more unwanted dogs rehomed. He said: “I think it would be cost-effective.”

But Coun Thornton warned that there would always be some dogs which were not suitable for rehoming.

He said: “Some of the ones we can’t rehome, because of the way they behave – if they’re aggressive and such like.”

And he said he was not sure how it could work for cats, as Council wardens did not impound stray cats.

But Coun Swallow said there were ways such a website could be designed so people who had lost cats could go there for help.

She said: “They don’t pick up cats but if a cat goes in somebody else’s house, they can ring up the Council and log it.

“Also, if it was an interactive website, you could post on there, ‘Ginger tom found in Girlington’ or whatever it was.”

She said the Council’s Clean Team could also post chip details of any dead animal they collect.