PETE WEDDERBURN Animal Doctor

although an animal was not being looked after well, the law was not being broken.

There have been two other significant new laws affecting animal welfare: the Dog Breeding Establishment Act 2010, which regulates puppy farms, and the introduction of compulsory microchipping of all dogs. The combination of this legislation plus many other factors on the ground (including much hard work on the part of local animal rescue groups) has led to a dramatic reduction in the number of unwanted stray dogs being euthanased in Ireland’s dog pounds.

In the 1990’s between 25 and 30000 dogs were killed every year. The latest Irish Pound figures from 2015, released earlier this month, show that 1,824 dogs were destroyed in Irish pounds in 2015. This is a massive improvement on the historic figures, and it’s a 37% decrease on 2014, which is a welcome trend.

One ongoing issue is the high percentage of registered greyhounds entering and dying in the Pound system. Of the 366 greyhounds entering the pound system last year, 203 were destroyed (55%). Dogs Trust and other animal welfare groups are calling on owners and trainers of racing greyhounds to make adequate provision for their rehoming once their racing careers end so that this high percentage can be tackled.

So what are the pressing animal welfare issues for the next twenty five years in this country? First, the pressure needs to be maintained, using existing laws and structures, to ensure that animal cruelty generally is kept to a minimum.

There are specific areas where actions to improve the lot of animals are still needed. Examples include ultra-intensive farming, such as pig and poultry production: the pressure from supermarkets for cheap food has to be balanced by efforts to give all farm animals a life worth living. The use of animals in medical experiments is another area where balance is needed: the development of tissue cultures and computer models should be able to reduce the numbers of live animals used. A ban on wild animals used for entertainment in circuses is another goal, and many would like to see the end of live export of farm animals to countries where treatment of animals does not come up to Irish standards.

Much has been done, but there’s still plenty more to do to help Ireland’s animals.