Holiday dog abandonments on rise

This dog's owners went off to Spain

The USPCA has said there has been an increase in the number of dogs abandoned over the summer holidays.

The animal charity has been dealing with as many cases of unwanted pets in July as it does over Christmas.

Recently police and USPCA officers rescued a dog left home alone for up to a week while its owner went on holiday.

In the last two days the charity has taken in 14 dogs from just four council areas and its shelter in Carryduff just outside south Belfast is now full.

The charity's Philip Burns said they could not identify why there was an upsurge.

"Normally where we would have been attending to five or six calls a week, generally over the summer holiday period, I'm finding now that the phones are excessively busy and I'm getting five or six calls a day," he said.

In one case shelter manager Kate Ferguson said two men had left a dog at the centre then went on holiday to Spain.

People are told to take their dogs to boarding kennels - they just don't want to be bothered paying that money Kate Ferguson Shelter manager

"You don't throw your children out just because something comes up," she said.

"People are told to take their dogs to boarding kennels so they can be properly minded when they are on holiday - they just don't want to be bothered paying that money.

"Then they find it's easy enough to call the dog warden out the dog warden will bring it to Carryduff to let them sort it out."

If no new home is found for the dogs they could be destroyed and the chances of re-homing an eight or nine-year-old dog are slim.

"It can be very hard because you are talking about up to 40 or 50 dogs within a week and it's just like a conveyor belt," she added.

The charity has appealed to dog owners to think twice before abandoning their pets.