Aontú rep calls on more stringent criteria for provision of dog pound services

Aontú representative for Meath Peter Whelan is calling on the department of Housing, Heritage and Local Government to change their tender criteria for the provision of dog pound and dog warden services.

He is urging the department to examine the way in which they access potential companies or individuals who offer the service of running the various dog pounds in our cities.

Peter Whelan says he was disgusted , but not surprised to hear of an individual with Dublin City council who made a protected disclosure to the department responsible about goings on in a Dublin dog pound.

In the disclosure which is 20 pages long, there are shocking claims of serious abuse of dogs , some of which ended in the horrific slow cruel deaths of innocent creatures .

Mr Whelan speaks with authority on this issue as The Aontu representative and his wife Susan ran the Meath dog pound on contract for Meath County Council on their farm from 2008 till 2013.

“When we took over the pound , the put to sleep rates were at 70%. In five years we reduced this rate to 11%. This was as a direct result of working closely with animal rescue groups.

"The same dog rescue groups always complained to us about the lack of access and cooperation from this pound. This pound has contracts with all four Dublin authorities.

"Dog rescue groups do tremendous work. They supply bedding , foster homes and rehoming services . We encouraged these rescue groups and had a great working relationship with them.

Whelan outlines a number of steps that need to be taken to ensure the safety of dogs. He said:

"The local authorities when writing tender specifications, must demand that the successful candidates have a recognised animal welfare /animal rescue group affiliated to the operation .

"This would ensure that the horrendous cruelty dealt to these helpless creatures ,can never be allowed happen again . These dog pounds are paid for with tax payers money, the least our councils can do is to assure us that welfare is at the top of the list, in the running of these essential services."

Peter Whelan , also says that each dog pound should ideally be located within the authorities jurisdiction. The Ashton dog pound is in Dublin 15 in the Fingal area. At present , if a dog in Dun Laoghaire strays out it’s gate , it will be brought to Castleknock. How is an owner expected to find their lost pet on the far side of the city?