Wicklow Pound

Bubblefett

Wicklow pound currently has one of the highest kill rates of any pound in Ireland. The charity Chance is currently attempting to improve the situation by getting access to the pound to photograph the dogs so that they stand a better chance of being re-homed and reunited with their owners. They've encountered a lot of resistance but last week finally got access to photograph a handful of the dogs- though this was only through the public viewing area where they had no way to interact with them through the double thick chain link fence.

http://www.facebook.com/Chance.Wicklow

I would suggest that people in Wicklow who may be looking to get a pet consider adopting, and help get as many animals out of the pound as possible before they are put to sleep. And please if you have a pet make sure they're micro chipped and wearing a collar and tag so that hey don't end up somewhere like this too

hdowney

Well said The work Chance are doing is fantastic, a wonderful group of people who are determined to see more dogs get forever homes and less being PTS needlessly. I urge everyone to support them in whatever way you can, from donations, to giving your time where they need it, to spreading the word.

The dogs need our help

petals

having rescued a dog from wicklow pound and not realising after several visits to sharpshill that the pound was there as well I think it's a great idea that Chance want to take pictures of the dogs so people may find their dog or rehome a dog before it's to late. Saw my dog on a Tuesday and he was due to be put down on the Friday for no reason other than they had no space in the pound.

JustAThought

petals wrote: »

having rescued a dog from wicklow pound and not realising after several visits to sharpshill that the pound was there as well I think it's a great idea that Chance want to take pictures of the dogs so people may find their dog or rehome a dog before it's to late. Saw my dog on a Tuesday and he was due to be put down on the Friday for no reason other than they had no space in the pound.

Lovely happy ever after for your pet!

I thought the sharpshill place was the pound! I hear a lot of people are just tieing their poor dogs to the railing + walking away because they cant afford to feed them anymore or are emigrating.

Where is the Wicklow pound?

hdowney

It is the building on the left as you drive/walk in the gate at Sharpshill.

mystika121

How does the whole Wicklow pound / animal sanctuary thing work?

Are all dogs in the pound moved to the sanctuary after their 5 days are up?

hdowney

Um, unfortunately no. The sanctuary is full to bursting A pound dog is a pound dog, and unless it is rescued, a dead dog (sorry to put it so bluntly )

petals

JustAThought wrote: »

Lovely happy ever after for your pet!

I thought the sharpshill place was the pound! I hear a lot of people are just tieing their poor dogs to the railing + walking away because they cant afford to feed them anymore or are emigrating.

Where is the Wicklow pound?

See that's what I thought as well. I thought the Sharpshill part was all there is but there is a little house to the left as you drive in. When we were there it always looked locked up but that is the pound and they actually had 8 dogs the day we went in and only two had a possiblity of getting rehomed. They said that sometimes if the sanctuary have space they take one or two of the dogs but the rest would be put down for no reason other than they don't have space.

The sanctuary also charged something like 120 euro for taking a dog from there. The pound dogs were free so long as you proved you'd bought a licence for the dog and they gave a voucher to get him micro-chipped.

mystika121

hdowney wrote: »

Um, unfortunately no. The sanctuary is full to bursting A pound dog is a pound dog, and unless it is rescued, a dead dog (sorry to put it so bluntly )

Thanks. The reason I asked is that there is a Greyhound in the Wicklow pound but there is also a photo of her on the ISPCA website. The ISPCA website states that there is a rehoming procedure to follow. Fill in application, home check etc. Does this mean that the dog is in the animal sanctuary or the pound?

I suppose the real question is, is she available for rehoming on 21/11/2012 or will be put down on 21/11/2012?

Alun

That's a very strange setup indeed. I mean, where do the animals for the sanctuary come from, that's distinct from where the animals for the pound come from?

Anyway, whatever about that particular question, the people running the sanctuary really need to sort themselves out, organization-wise. We went there a few years ago looking for a cat or two, and the place seemed to be "run", if that's the correct word, by gang of headless chickens none of whom knew what the other was doing. We saw a couple of kittens we were interested in (being kept in seriously dirty and inappropriate conditions by the way), asked about them, and were passed from pillar to post with nobody actually knowing anything about them or their status. We were promised a call back once they knew more, which unsurprisingly never materialized, and after several more calls on our behalf we just gave up. I know they're all volunteers and all, but they seriously need someone at the helm with some real-life organizational and business skills to beat the rest of the team into shape, and get them to adopt something vaguely reminiscent of a customer oriented attitude.

hdowney

From what I know - in the main. If you surrender your animal you do it to the sanctuary. If they get a call out to some abandoned animals and go collect them they go in there. If the dog warden finds/picks up the dog it goes in the pound.

As to the above comment, a few years ago the cats were seriously overfull in less than ideal conditions. They were doing the best they could with what they had. Thanks to the generosity of the public they have since built new shelters for the cats They are still overrun with them however which is a shame.

It is also no mean feat running a shelter, it is incredibly hard work. There is so much to do and for those main staff there is so much paperwork and legislation and the like to do. They are there for the animals, they are not doing a 'customer service' role as such. Yes they interact with the public who come to enquire about an animal, and yes sometimes they can be less than 100% smiley and cheerful, but you have no idea what has gone on that day to make them that way. For example I used to volunteer, cleaning out the cattery. One day I went in and a cat had had lots of lovely little kittens. Even though they were born into a sanctuary and a country that is overpopulated cat-wise it was still a smile moment. The next day I went in the cat was on her own without the kittens. Went to ask why, to be told they had all got sick and died Every single one. That was deffo a non-smile moment. The people you interacted with could have been dealing with something like that that particular day, or an animal may have come in who had been treated bad. That would take away your cheerfulness in a minute.

So I am sorry you felt you didn't get the customer service welcome from the staff you deserved. I urge you though to not write them, and the wonderful animals they help off, based on that experience.

Thanks. Sorry for the long post

Alun

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to belittle the work they do, and I know it can be tough sometimes, but they have to realize that they have essentially not just one, but two tasks. Firstly to look after and care for the animals and, just as importantly, secondly to try and get as many of them rehomed as possible. If they just achieve the first goal and fail miserably in the second one, then they're not really being effective in what they do. The fewer animals they rehome, the more they pile up, and the more stress they put themselves under trying to care adequately for them, so it's in their best interests to be as efficient and businesslike in that area too. Maybe they should consider splitting the two functions, so that the customer facing / business / paperwork side of the operation is kept separate?

In my experience, it's the same with lots of these kinds of volunteer run organizations, not just animal charities. I had an absolutely appalling experience recently trying to donate something to SvdP for example. Just because it's volunteer run doesn't mean you can't act in a professional and customer oriented manner.

hdowney

I do see where you are coming from. Unfortunately splitting the two aspects may not be realistic. They probably don't have enough people to do that. The volunteers just come in the clean/walk animals etc. There are only three fulltime workers and they work 24/7/365 which is daunting. It is a shame, but there is no money to employ anyone to help split the work, and I presume it cannot be done by your average volunteer for good reason, but ones which I have no knowledge of

I do appreciate that you were not trying to belittle the work that they do

spank_inferno

Is Sharpes Hill not owned by the council?

I assume they are paid by the Co Council.

hdowney

spank_inferno wrote: »

Is Sharpes Hill not owned by the council?

I assume they are paid by the Co Council.

I may be wrong but I don't think they are owned by the council. And I don't know who pays them. I thought they were part of the larger ISPCA remit?

petals

mystika121 wrote: »

Thanks. The reason I asked is that there is a Greyhound in the Wicklow pound but there is also a photo of her on the ISPCA website. The ISPCA website states that there is a rehoming procedure to follow. Fill in application, home check etc. Does this mean that the dog is in the animal sanctuary or the pound?

I suppose the real question is, is she available for rehoming on 21/11/2012 or will be put down on 21/11/2012?

At a guess I'd say the greyhound is in Sharpshill. The pound don't tend to put pictures of the dogs online that I've seen anyway and they don't do home checks when you go to take a dog. Literally all we were asked for was to come back with a licence for the dog and we could take him.

Bubblefett

spank_inferno wrote: »

Is Sharpes Hill not owned by the council?

I assume they are paid by the Co Council.

They're run by the ISPCA
http://www.wicklowspca.org/wspca.html

petals wrote: »

At a guess I'd say the greyhound is in Sharpshill. The pound don't tend to put pictures of the dogs online that I've seen anyway and they don't do home checks when you go to take a dog. Literally all we were asked for was to come back with a licence for the dog and we could take him.

Chance have started taking photos of the dogs in Wicklow pound now (well the ones they're allowed to) and uploading them on their facebook page.


mystika121 there's a lurcher there at the moment that you might be thinking of? If in doubt call the pound and ask when she will be available for rehoming- no point taking a chance if you might be in a position to get her out of there

mystika121

Bubblefett wrote: »

They're run by the ISPCA
http://www.wicklowspca.org/wspca.html



Chance have started taking photos of the dogs in Wicklow pound now (well the ones they're allowed to) and uploading them on their facebook page.


mystika121 there's a lurcher there at the moment that you might be thinking of? If in doubt call the pound and ask when she will be available for rehoming- no point taking a chance if you might be in a position to get her out of there

Hi, I have spoken to the Pound and the lurcher was rehomed today! I had seen her on the Chance FaceBook page.

Bubblefett

mystika121 wrote: »

Hi, I have spoken to the Pound and the lurcher was rehomed today! I had seen her on the Chance FaceBook page.

Just heard the news myself Means that all the dogs they took photos of last weekend got out safe, happy days!

They've 3 news dogs photos up today. Maybe someone might recognise them and help get them home? Or if you think you or someone you know might be able to offer them a home have a look. They're in the album titled "24/11/12 Wicklow Poundies"
www.facebook.com/chance.wicklow

recedite

I've been into Sharpeshill WSPCA looking around a few times, but the separate "pound" building was never open at the same time. What times/days is it open to the public, to see what dogs they have inside?

edit; just seen it on the facebook page

If you want to know more about any of dogs please contact Wicklow Pound directly at 0404 44873 as Chance are not a rehoming group. The opening hours are Monday to Friday 10 to 12:30 and 3 to 4, and on Saturdays from 10 to 12.

Only open for one hour in the afternoons, so you've got to be quick...

petals

i think if you ring the pound the guy that runs it lives nearby so if you can't make it during opening hours he might go down to you. He did for us anyway.

VivaDiva

opening hours of the pound have been further reduced.
current opening times of Wicklow Pound are :
Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri 11am - 12.30pm.
Wed - CLOSED
Sat 10am-12pm

That's a 12 1/2 hour cut in opening times this year! what is going on with this pound!!!

hdowney

I read that earlier on Chance's fb page. I was not impressed to say the least

spank_inferno

VivaDiva wrote: »

opening hours of the pound have been further reduced.
current opening times of Wicklow Pound are :
Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri 11am - 12.30pm.
Wed - CLOSED
Sat 10am-12pm

That's a 12 1/2 hour cut in opening times this year! what is going on with this pound!!!

I'm guessing lack of money.

I've since learned that they are not affiliated with the ISPCA (despite using the "spca" initials). So I doubt there is anywhere else they can seek funds for.

hdowney

spank_inferno wrote: »

I'm guessing lack of money.

I've since learned that they are not affiliated with the ISPCA (despite using the "spca" initials). So I doubt there is anywhere else they can seek funds for.

are you talking about the pound or the shelter?