Don't bring strays to pounds. Bring them to shelters only.

pwd

Almost all the animals taken to pounds get horrible diseases and die even if they are adopted before they are put down anyway.
About half of the dogs and cats brought to animal shelters will get fatal diseases too, unfortunately. Ireland has very poor statistics in this regard.

luckat

What's the difference between a pound and a shelter? Where are the shelters?

pwd

There's a DSPCA shelter in Rathfarnham. I worked there for a summer, and they look after the animals as well as they possibly can.

http://www.dspca.ie/index3.asp

An animal shelter is for looking after animals. Shelters are cleaned every day, and if possible the dogs will get walked. They will only put down an animal if it is dying. Disease can be a problem, however, because of many stray and abused animals couped up together.
A pound is for removing stray animals. They are often filthy, and disease-ridden. Any animal brought to a pound will be put down within a few days if no-one adopts or claims ownership of it. Even if the animal is adopted, it may have a fatal disease anyway.

luckat

Could we make this a sticky, please, moderator, or add it to another sticky?

(But maybe remove the claim about a particular pound, if PWD wouldn't mind. It is kind of unfair, as it's not from personal experience - and even if it were, might be no longer true.)

seamus

The problem is funding. Animal Welfare takes a very low priority in Ireland. To a large extent, much politics still gives a farmer's viewpoint on issues, even though it's now a minor industry in this country, and the majority of the population has no involvement whatsoever in it.

Back in the day, animal welfare was left to the farmers. They decided when to put them down, how to treat their illnesses (through experience obviously). In the cities, there were animal wardens who caught stray dogs and looked after the pound.

Not a whole lot has changed. And that's the problem.

What Ireland needs is an RSPCA-style organisation that has large, dedicated facilities, with onsite healthcare (the DSPCA largely has to pay Vets afaik). Their officers need powers of search and seizure if they believe the immediate health/safety of an animal is in jeopardy, and need the full support of the Gardai to help carry out these powers.

As it stands, the SPCAs work out of almost shanty-style buildings. They have zero powers of search and seizure. As far as the law is concerned, they are just joe citizen. So all they can do is attempt to convince the owner of the animal to sign over the animal to them. If they can't, well there's not a whole lot they can do. They can call the Gardai to intervene in extreme cases, but even then the Gardai still require warrants and other legal brick-a-brack to have any kind of effect (afaik).

The SPCAs receive *ZERO* government funding. Your tax, goes towards nothing but capturing stray animals, and putting them down. The DSPCA in Rathfarnham was literally on the brink of shutting down 2 years ago, before an appeal an people began donating funds to keep it open. In a supposedly first-world country, that's a disgrace.

koneko

I'll see about stickying it if pwd removes that information about a particular pound. We can't go around making accusations without proof to back it up.

pwd

I removed the relevant text. That was from personal experience though; we took the dog when he was released from the pound and the poor little thing was filthy and sick. The vet said that there was a lot of disease there. I'm not certain that it was the particular pound I named, however, and it was maybe 10 months ago now too.

koneko

stickified for now.

Sigma Force

This is a common mistake and a reason why so many dogs have to be pts.

Dogs that end up in pounds end up for these reasons..

They are surrendered by their owners

They are found as a stray

Surrendered dogs can be put to sleep any time in a pound.
Stray dogs get 5 days uness they are reclaimed, adopted out or a rescue takes them out.

Rescues are funded usually just by the people who run them and the odd donation, they feed the animal and give them any vet care they need, each rescue has their own rehoming policy etc.

The common attitude that pounds have only sick animals and animals not worth taking is very wrong, I have met many a pound dog who make perfectly good pets.

Also not all dogs in pounds are mangy mutts! There are many healthy cross breeds and an amazing amount of pure breds dumped there for no good reason the most common ones are labs, gsds collies terriers and springers..notice how these are also the most commonly bred dogs in ireland too.

Spaying and neutering and proper policing of dog licences is needed as well as more education and awareness. There are dozens of people all over Irleand working very hard to rescue dogs out of pounds and rehome them to responsible homes.

As with anything in Ireland you will get good pounds and not so good pounds and good rescues and not so great as well as good responsible dog breeders and not so good ones remember Ireland is still full of puppy farms and back yard breeders giving the more responsible breeders in Ireland a very bad name.

Remember it is the law to hav eyour full name and address on a tag on your dogs collar, microchipping is also a good idea.

Glowing

I believe www.paws.ie is another shelter - based in Salons.

embraer170

Guineapigrescue wrote:

Remember it is the law to hav eyour full name and address on a tag on your dogs collar, microchipping is also a good idea.

Indeed but all too often the pounds don't even bother trying to contact the owners even if they have a name/address tag or microship.

Sigma Force

That has happened in the past but it is the law to have your dog collared and tagged, also it is up to the owner to look for their dog when the dog goes missing, the first place they should call is their local pound and rescues with a detailed description of the dog and ideally a photo.

Not all pounds are the same and many work with rescues to help as many dogs as they can.

lazylad

pwd wrote:

Almost all the animals taken to pounds get horrible diseases and die even if they are adopted before they are put down anyway.
About half of the dogs and cats brought to animal shelters will get fatal diseases too, unfortunately. Ireland has very poor statistics in this regard.

All of them are the worst. In my area theres a lot of dogs on loose gettin knocked down. I think its disgraceful that owners leave their dogs wonder out on the road and get knocked down by somone flyin down the hill!!!
The ISPCA in my area has a few people who take in dogs and try and find a home for them. I think that's the best thing of the all. THey get special care and recover from physical injury. I think its terrible to see dogs or anything being hurt or neglected its disgraceful.

A load of dogs are let wonder by travellers in areas. The county wardens never catch these dogs and if they did the owners would deny its their dog because they are liable. If you knock a dog down, its the owners liability and they are suppost to pay for damages etc.
There are greyhounds owned by a group of travelling people and they let a greyhound wonder and it got hit full force by a car and burst up. The dog was all disorientated and lost, and wondered in front of the car. I have nothing against the owners but they MUST take some responability and respect for their dogs and animals.!!!!

Sigma Force

I think PWD should remove that post about pounds, it is a very unfair and untrue blanket statement and many pounds work with rescues to help home dogs.
That kind of attitude is why dogs are left to die because people think pound dogs aren't worth saving.
The majority or dogs ARE worth saving and ARE in full health, many just need de fleaing de worming vaccainting and then neutering/spaying just like any dog does.

Greyhound

pwd wrote:

Almost all the animals taken to pounds get horrible diseases and die even if they are adopted before they are put down anyway.
About half of the dogs and cats brought to animal shelters will get fatal diseases too, unfortunately. Ireland has very poor statistics in this regard.

I find it amazing that someone would make such an inaccurate and mis informed statement!!! It is quite obvious you have never set foot inside a pound or a properly run shelter. Most of the dogs that turn up in Irish pounds are just ordinary dogs that have got lost. Many are pedigree and make lovely pets.

It is true that surrenders get 24 hours and strays just 5 days but pounds are run by local government, they are not animal rescues. The pounds are funded by tax and I'm sure to a degree by dog licence fees. Animal rescues rely on public donations to keep going and in this country that amounts to very little so many of these rescues are under terrible financial pressure.

To put things in perspective, in 2004 there were almost 17,000 dogs destroyed in Irish pounds, in the entire UK for the same year there were 10,000 dogs destroyed. Most of these were in Northern Ireland!!!! Doesn't say a lot for the Irish attitude to animals does it.

lolo2

seamus wrote:

The SPCAs receive *ZERO* government funding. Your tax, goes towards nothing but capturing stray animals, and putting them down.

This is simply untrue.

http://www.agriculture.ie/index.jsp?file=pressrel/2003/161-2003.xml
http://www.agriculture.ie/index.jsp?file=pressrel/2004/178-2004.xml
http://www.agriculture.ie/index.jsp?file=pressrel/2004/178-2004.xml

While expenses for rescue are huge and more funds are always needed, in many countries animal rescue is not allocated any government funding.

Please remember also to inform your local garda station as well as your local pound if you do find a stray as somebody could be looking for their pet.

I would also like to note that while we could update our animal welfare legislation, it is not the government or pounds that are to blame for the disgraceful number of animals who are destroyed yearly, it the the fault of irresponsible pet owners who do not have their animals spayed / neutered or allow them to stray.

pinkyirl

yes it's true that most dogs in the pound will contract kennel cough but that is easily curable with a course of tablets. We adopted a pound dog last October, he had kennel cough, our other dog caught it but the two of them were better in a week with the medicine.

He has no other horrible diseases, a fantastic coat, no fleas, no "issues" and is the most loveable little dog in the world - it's almost as if he knows we rescued him.

I have spread the word to everyone I know advising them to adopt a dog from the pound rather than a shelter, cos the poor things in the pound will be put to sleep in 5 days if no-one claims them whereas shelter dogs have a much better chance of survival.

As for microchipping - we have both our dogs chipped but I kinda think it might be a waste of time as there is no database of chipped dogs. SO if our dog was lost / stolen, we would physically have to phone every vet with a description & the chip number - there is no such thing as a random vet scanning the dog and checking a database to see my name & number match the chip. It's a bit of a con.

Michael G

The DSPCA (which is an independent organisation and not the same as the ISPCA) never puts down animals unless they are dangerous or in pain. It also has an ambulance service and Inspectors investigating cruelty cases. It costs nearly €1 million a year to run the DSPCA and apart from a small Government grant of €40,000 this year and a few thousand (literally just a few thousand) from the Dublin Local Authorities, it depends completely on donations and bequests.

www.dspca.ie

Arcadian

Perhaps the DSPCA could use some of that money to get someone to answer the phone:mad:

Michael G

What time of day did you try to ring them? I've never had a problem getting through. Why not email them?

ould wan

Often Pounds are called Shelters eg Dungarvan Pound is called Dog Shelter, Ballitore Pound is called Shelter:( there is a great link to rescues and shelters throughout Ireland. http://www.h4ha.org/shelters/Ireland/27-0.html

You see the shelters are mostly pounds, Rescues on the other hand are where the dogs from the pounds/shelters go to, release fees etc paid by "rescuers" and angels that help and then if there is a space in the rescue they will be placed there, most of these have a no kill policy and hold until a suitable home is checked out and the animal is homed. These rescues get "some" government funding but not enough. Most people that work in pounds have a tough time when an animal is pts so they are happy if a rescue can take them. If a dog is surrendered by an owner to a pound it has 24 hours before being pts and if a stray comes in it has 5 days, that is why sites like www.irishanimals.ie and www.petsireland.invision.com are fantastic ways of helping out with these poundies as they are called.

watty

Most of the wandering dogs and cats do NOT belong to travellers, unless most travellers live in Semidetached.

The travellers have enough predudice against them without blaming the terrible attiudes of Irish "pet owners" on them.

Darragh29

I got my new best friend (Gene), in the DSPCA shelter on Mount Venus Road in Rathfarnham about 2 months ago, he is so cool! He's a cross between an Irish Wolfhound and a greyhound and can run for Ireland! They do great work up there and they rarely put down a dog unless the dog is injured beyond recovery or cannot be rehomed due to being bad tempered. The dog I rehomed was up there for well over a month before I came along, he wouldn't have lasted that long in a pound, it's game over after 5 days as far as I know.

Arcadian

The DSPCA will however send dogs to the pound, where they probably will be put down.

EGAR

So will the ISPCA, they pts as well.

Sarah

Jules

The SPCA are the biggest..,... im actually not even gonna finish that line cuz i have never had so much bull from one group.
They are... <Mod-Edit>... and if anyone says otherwise im sorry but i have had plenty of first hand experience with them and all i can says is that i have absolutly no time for them why not look at smaller groups who have time to look after animals.

<Mod-Edit> (I deleted this paragraph as such extremely serious and appalling allegations about a large organisation do not belong on this board and should be reported to the relevent authorities).

A friend was having difficulty with her parents and asked the spca to help rehome her cats as she has to move down the country.
She gave them a donation and said that if you cannot rehome him ill take time back.
At the time it was all smiles and no problems but when it came to it after they could not get a home for him, she went to take him what did they do?.... they refused to, point blank, said that the cat was now their property and she was not getting him back.
why why why.... another reason i have not time for them

========================

Note from Moderator.
Jules80,
The SPCA's in Ireland leave a lot to be desired its true, and Im sure many of us share your frustration with them.
However, some of the claims you made in this post originally are of an extremely serious nature and should not be made without proof.
If you are convinced what you alleged is correct, contact the relevent authorities and file a report / complaint. Feel free to post the resulting actions.

B

BeauZak

This is a good topic. Pounds rescues pts rates are all very controversial. I have been in many of the countries pounds as I used to work with rescue dogs (still do so in a training capacity now though).

The correct stats for dogs pts in pounds can be obtained from the Dept of Agriculture. These stats display the number of dogs put to sleep in pounds ONLY, it does not contain stats from unwanted dogs pts in vets or the many Greyhounds pts post racing career. I believe when you factor those in you can triple to DOE figure.

Some things to note:
Someone said that the pounds are run by local government. This is true to some degree but a large portion of our pounds are run by the ISPCA. Some people find this confusing since the ISPCA have a state of the art centre in Longford which is used to house animals who have suffered at the hand of cruelty and their owners are in the process of being investigated or charged. It also houses unwanted or stray dogs, cats etc. But separate to that the ISPCA do run regular dog pounds where similar holding rules apply.
Also a correction on surrenders. They will and can be destroyed immediately there is no 24 hour rule but some pounds do hold them if there is space so they may be adopted out. However some owners REQUEST that their dog is not rehomed and is pts. Take a look at the control of dogs act for full info on holding times etc.

The DSPCA do great work and they do place dogs into the pound system. If a dog is found the presumption is made that the owner would look in the pound first not the DSPCA. Also if you adopt from a dog pound the dog is yours. If you find a dog and hold onto it then dog is not yours until 366 days have passed so this means you should notify pound if you have found a dog. You can still hold onto it but they need the dogs details should owner come forward. I guess it would be good if the DSPCA collected any non claimed dogs after their 5 days but they too only have so much space in the shelter - which is also state of the art with great facilities and holding areas for their animals.

The council run pounds are like franchises. The tender is put out every so many years. Anyone with kennels, facilities and the experience to run a pound can apply. Remember that you can inspect pound books at any stage. A pound book should state where the dog was picked up and other relevant details. Those who win tenders do make money from running a pound.

Shelters - run by volunteers, they run on donations and government grants (only couple of thousand) to survive. No state of the art facilities just make the best of what's available. ASH rescue have remortgaged their home to build kennels and outside spaces for dogs, cats and other animals.
Shelters come in two forms. No-Kill and 'regular' as I like to refer to them as. No-Kill means that even if the dog is not suitable for homing it will stay there forever and live out it's life. If a dog was in pain or very ill of course the Non-kill shelter will pts only after exhausting all avenues. Shelters that do not have a no-kill policy will give a normal dog reasonable time to be adopted and this is usually months or even sometimes years, if adoption does not happen then they will pts the dog to make space for other dogs. If the dog is aggressive and can't be helped then dog is definitely pts again to make space for another dog. That is a very black and white scenario but you get the idea.

Everyone has their views on no-kill shelters and shelters with a regular policy. Some argue; when dealing with large volumes of dogs (as Ireland is) then you have to really wonder if it is best to keep a non-homeable dog alive in kennels for his life while other homeable ones die in pounds. That is the ultimate question really and it's not clear cut. It's very easy to say all aggressive dogs should be pts but if you have worked with a dog for months, fed him, walked him and bonded with him then I guess it would be very hard to do.

Personally I commend the shelters and tons of people who are fostering for volunteer organisations, transporting dogs etc. The shelters clean up the mess constantly. They take dogs who are on their last day in pounds, from the streets, from people who don't want their dog anymore, they take on the post christmas puppies, the pregnant dogs, they give dogs the vet care they need spaying and neutering costing thousands in bills yearly. They re-mortgage their own properties to expand kennel areas, they work 24/7 with no staff only volunteers coming when they can. I would like to see funding channelled into the reputable shelters and rescues as well as the other large organisations so that they too can have proper facilities.

There is a shelter in Wicklow who takes in more dogs, cats and animals than the bigger organisations. They are voluntary. That's saying something.

As regards legislation, we have all recently successfully put enough pressure on the minister for Environment Dick Roche to introduce the breeding establishments legislation which is now going through. This will mean that 'breeding establishments' will have to conform to a set of basic standards if they wish to produce puppies. These standards are primarily related to the environment and general health of bitches, puppies and stud dogs.

So we can push for change in animal welfare legislation too and we should. It only takes a small group to start it off. Take a look at ANVIL www.anvilireland.ie who are doing massive work in this area. Why not contact them and see how you can help make the change.

bullets

Limerick Animal Welfare never put an animal to sleep
unless they really have to:

http://www.limerickslife.com/

This crowd are great. Very Hard to get in contact with or to
even get an answer from but thats cos they are completlely overwhelmed
with animals to take care of all of the time and they rely on (extra)ordinary
people to volunteer to help out. They also work together with a Border Collie
santuary in England called Wiccaweys where some of the Irish dogs are sent
as they have a good chance of getting homed.

http://www.wiccaweys.co.uk/start.html

We found a lovely stray that we could not keep (11 cats and no garden wall)
that ended up in Wiccaweys and finally got rehomed. We called her Dubh as
she was jet black but something must have got lost in the translation as when it ended up being called Dove.

We have pound in Limerick in Mungret too that is ment to be a glorified shed.
The Animals are PTS afer 5 days. But The Pound only appears to be open
for an hour each day and from reading post on other boards poeple seem to
only be able to get in contact with the pound on Fridays.
There is no way I would ever bring a dog to a pound. I would rather feed a stray some food and
hope it can find someone to take it in rather than bring the animal to certain doom.

Opening Hours of Mungret Pound taken from Limerick city counsil website:
Monday to Friday 9.30 - 10.30am

~B
http://houndsoflove.ie.tripod.com

Chuchu

Did not get the chance to read this fully so this may already be on here but here's another place with a no destruction policy near Dublin Airport:
http://www.dogsaid.ie/

BeauZak

Both Limerick animal welfare and Dogs Aid work really hard and do great work. These are examples of shelters who always have cash flow problems. So if you want to help DONATE to either. Both have websites and NEED help.

cowzerp

there is an animal shelter in coleen in meath i think? i got my rotty there and hes the business-animals well cdared for there..