Councils 'not ready' for strays

There are fears about what will happen to missing dogs

There are fears packs of dogs will be left roaming the streets after it emerged only half of Wales' councils have finalised their stray dog policy.

From April, police will no longer have to round up stray dogs out of hours as the task is transferred to councils.

But the BBC's Eye on Wales programme found that 11 of Wales' 22 local authorities had yet to finalise their responsibilities over the matter.

The Dogs Trust charity said it had concerns and feared a "disaster".

It said it had worries packs of dogs would be left roaming the streets and owners would be unable to find missing pets.

Currently the responsibility for stray dogs is shared between local authorities and the police.

Councils have a legal obligation to employ dog wardens to pick up stray or unwanted dogs during the working day.

At night and at weekends, the police have a long-standing legal duty to accept strays brought to them by members of the public.

We're really concerned that this removal of the police from the equation completely is going to end up with a lot of stray dogs running around Chris Lawrence, the Dogs Trust

But many police stations no longer have kennels, so the system is about to change.

Local authorities need to establish "acceptance points" where the public can take a stray dog out of hours. People will not be able to take a dog to a police station.

Rowan Hughes, principal environmental health officer with the Vale of Glamorgan Council and also chair of the All Wales Dog Warden Liaison Technical Group, said councils will need arrangements with commercial boarding kennels or charitable kennels.

"Although there are normally a number of boarding kennels within each authority, most of these will not be interested in receiving stray dogs out of hours because of the obvious disease risk," he said.

Councils need to set up 'acceptance points' for people to hand in strays

"Also it can be a big disturbance, set all the dogs of barking, and if the premises are near homes it can cause a noise nuisance."

Gwynedd, Carmarthenshire, Wrexham and Blaenau Gwent councils are among those which have yet to finalise arrangements for stray dog "acceptance points".

The Dogs Trust, the UK's biggest canine welfare organisation, takes in 1,000 strays annually in Wales alone.

Veterinary director Chris Lawrence said: "Our worry is that it's going to be pretty much of a disaster for the first few months.

"We're really concerned that this removal of the police from the equation completely is going to end up with a lot of stray dogs running around, nobody to pick them up, nobody to care for them."

The Association of Chief Police Officers has welcomed the transfer of responsibility for stray dogs to local authorities.

A spokesperson said: "Strays dogs are essentially an environmental and public health issue which in modern times should not remain as a function of the police."