ISPCA to give up dog pounds in funds row

THE Irish Society For The Prevention Of Cruelty To Animals is to cede control of three dog pounds before Christmas, saying it cannot properly run them on the budgets provided by councils.

At present, the ISPCA runs eight dog pounds under contract for local authorities around the country. But the charity plans to give up the pounds in Roscommon, Offaly and Carlow-Kilkenny at the end of December.

The ISPCA came under fire in

‘The facilities are old,

not fit for purpose’

August when dogs were left without food or water at the Roscommon pound over the bank holiday weekend by a staff member who has since been fired.

The charity’s boss Andrew Kelly said no decision has yet been made on its involvement with the remaining five pounds.

He said: ‘It is very difficult to operate the pounds on the budget provided. The facilities are old, in need of repair and they are not fit for purpose. We want to focus on the area of preventing cruelty. Putting dogs to sleep is a part of why this is happening. There are organisations who have a “never kill” policy, but we can’t do that, we have to comply with codes.’

Mr Kelly said there will be a smooth transfer of services and that there would be no disruption to the animals. He added that concern for his staff was another reason for leaving the pounds.

The ISPCA has come under attack from some animal rights groups because of the numbers of dogs put down at their pounds.

He said: ‘There has been a lot of criticism and personal attacks, especially on social media. Our staff work with rescue organisations and have rehomed 2,100 dogs. In 2014, the putto-sleep rate so far is down to 32%. In some cases we have a responsibility not to rehome certain dogs. If dogs are biters, overly aggressive, then sadly that is a decision we must take. And dogs who have killed sheep.’

At present, councils pay the ISPCA an annual fee and the charity provides staff and vehicles.

Roscommon County Council’s budget showed €132,000 paid to the ISPCA last year. Offaly County Council spent €115,410 on all dog care. Figures were not available for the Carlow/Kilkenny pound.

A spokeswoman for the Carlow/Kilkenny pound said a tender process is under way to find a new partner.

A Roscommon council spokeswoman said: ‘Roscommon County Council accepts the decision taken by the ISPCA to terminate the service level agreement.’

She added that tender applications are already being assessed.

A spokesman for Offaly County Council said: ‘[the] Council has tendered the service on [procurement website] e-tenders and will appoint a new service provider from January 1, 2015.’

The ISPCA will now concentrate on education to prevent animal cruelty by working with animal owners. It will also push for a system to identify and trace dogs to prevent abandonment.

Mr Kelly said: ‘In Ireland there are so many stray dogs that there is a lot of firefighting.

‘We’d rather solve the problem than deal with the result.’

Many in the animal welfare area welcomed the move, saying that an animal charity should not be associated with the deaths of dogs.

Figures for last year showed 1,069 dogs were put down at the eight ISPCA pounds, out of 3,516 killed nationwide. Another 5,867 were rehomed or reclaimed.