Council set to police city's lost dogs

2:41am Tuesday 1st April 2008

Bradford Council's dog wardens are to take over full responsibility for stray dogs found in the district from Sunday but the RSPCA believes the new service will not be funded effectively.

The Council will take over stray dog collection duties from the Police, who will still deal with dangerous dogs, but no specific amount of money will be allocated by the Government to each council for carrying out these new duties.

The RSPCA is unhappy about this lack of "ringfencing" for funding to deal with animals on the loose.

RSPCA senior local government adviser Piers Claughton said: "I'm outraged by the woefully small sum allocated to local authorities to cover the new responsibilities and fear it will have a massive impact on animal welfare.

"It's simply not enough money to provide an effective service.

"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 the dog or care for it until the council can collect it."

It is estimated that about 50,000 dogs live in the district, and about 1,000 strays are dealt with each year.

John Major, assistant director for environmental health for Bradford Council, said: "The Council is just as concerned as the RSPCA about animal welfare and is committed to ensuring the animals do not suffer.

"We will be giving the best service we can within the resources allocated to the department."

Members of the public who find a stray dog are asked to contact the Council's dog warden service on (01274) 434366 during office hours or (01274) 431000 when it is shut.

Out of hours, people who find stray dogs will be asked if they can keep the dog until the next working day - when a warden will call to collect the animal - or, if they cannot, will be given details of a kennel which will take in the dog.

The Council looks after stray dogs for seven days. During this time, every effort is made to either re-unite the dog with its owner or to find it a new home. Unfortunately some dogs cannot be re-homed and have to be put to sleep.

John Prentice, director of transport and logistics at West Yorkshire Police, said: "This issue has come about because of a change in the law, not because the Police no longer wish to take in stray dogs from the public.

"While responsibility for dealing with stray dogs now lies with the relevant local authorities, West Yorkshire Police will continue to fulfil its obligations with regards to dangerous dogs and other dog-related criminal matters."

The changes are a result of the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005.

When the Bill was being debated the Telegraph & Argus reported that the cost of running Bradford's dog warden service could soar from £200,000 if the proposals to pass all responsibility for stray dogs solely to local authorities were passed by Parliament.

Terry Singh, the Council's animal services manager, said: "There is a percentage of Bradford's dog population that is not kept under proper control. This often causes problems for the general public.

"There is a risk of stray dogs being involved in a road accident, they could become aggressive and attack other animals or people, and it could result in dog fouling.

"We want to ask people to take more responsibility by keeping their dogs under proper supervision and taking them out on a lead."

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