Scanning of Stray and Dead Dogs
In January 2010, GRW contacted all 22 local authorities in Wales and the three Trunk Road Agencies. Like most responsible animal welfare charities, GRW insists on all dogs in its care being microchipped and wanted to check local Councils would scan any dog found straying, and also how they deal with dog fatalities as a result of a road accident.
The table below lists all 22 Councils and their responses. All Councils claim that if they find a dog wearing a collar and tag (which is a legal requirement) then they will attempt to contact the owner. The table below simply reports the answers given by the Councils – we do not speculate on how Councils can recognise a “first time offender”.
For dead dogs, none of the Trunk Road Agencies in Wales scan fatalities. In England, the Highways Agency (equivalent organisation) does.
A number of Councils pointed out that even if a dog is microchipped, sometimes the chip can move round the body and not be easily read or can fail after a number of years. The charity agrees and understands that microchipping is not an infallible form of identification.
A further point raised was that when a dog is scanned, and a chip is present, strays in particular are often found to have contact information that is out of date – the charity strongly recommends all dog owners ensure that their details are correct and updated on databases used.
NB Anglesey and Gwynedd Councils have their own Voluntary Dog Registration Schemes. Any dog found straying in these areas that is a member of the scheme will be returned directly to its owner without going into the pound kennels. These systems have holiday membership available if you are planning a trip to these areas with your dog. A small fee is payable (typically around £3) – you can find further details on the Councils’ websites.
The following Councils will unequivocally scan both live and dead dogs – Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, Flintshire, Monmouthshire, Swansea and Wrexham.
The following Councils do not routinely scan dead dogs and do not always scan live strays – if your dog has strayed in or near one of these areas, you should NOT assume you will be contacted. Anglesey*, Bridgend, Ceredigion, Conwy, Vale of Glamorgan, Neath Port Talbot.
*Except for dogs in Voluntary Scheme
Name of Authority
|
Policy on Scanning Stray Dogs |
Policy on ID of dead dogs |
Anglesey Council |
Yes – on first occasion. Taken to kennels on subsequent collections. |
Do not currently scan dead dogs. |
Blaenau Gwent |
Yes. Owners will be contacted by phone and in writing. |
Dead dogs are scanned for microchips and owner notified if found. |
Bridgend |
Dog warden has discretion to contact – not automatic. Out of hours kennels will contact. |
Department responsible does not have access to a scanner. Dead animals (both dogs and cats) have breed and markings recorded for identification if the owner calls then animal is sent for cremation at pet crematorium. |
Caerphilly |
Yes. |
Taken to depot and scanned. If present, owner notified. |
Cardiff |
Yes. |
No scanning. |
Carmarthenshire |
Yes. |
No scanning, but will contact owners if details are available via collar. |
Ceredigion |
Where duties allow. “Repeat offenders” taken straight to pound. |
Domestic pets taken to depot, for storing in freezers before ultimate disposal. Local attempts made to identify and community wardens do scan for chips. |
Conwy |
Yes – on first occasion. Taken to kennels on subsequent collections. |
Dead dogs not scanned. |
Denbighshire |
Yes, by both dog warden and out of hours kennel service. Owner contacted. |
Dead dogs not scanned. Note made of breed. |
Flintshire |
Yes. |
Dead dogs are scanned for microchips and owner notified if found. |
Gwynedd |
Yes. |
Dead dogs not scanned. |
Merthyr Tydfil |
Yes. |
Dead dogs not scanned. |
Monmouthshire |
Yes. |
If body is complete, description noted and warden will scan, then contact owners if possible. When a dog is picked up by the Highways section out of hours or off a trunk road the dog is not scanned (management reluctant to provide equipment). |
Neath Port Talbot |
Yes, but dogs who stray repeatedly may be taken straight to pound. |
Cleansing teams pick up dead dogs and do not carry scanners. However, dog wardens will scan dead dogs if looking for a specific animal. |
Newport |
Yes. |
Dead dogs not scanned. Taken to pet crematorium at Redwick. |
Pembrokeshire |
Yes. |
Dead dogs picked up by refuse teams who do not have scanners. Will inform dog wardens of dogs collected and will allow scanning by wardens on request before disposal. |
Powys |
Yes. |
Dead dogs not scanned. Record kept of location found and description, dog kept in depot for short while in case owner reclaims. |
Rhondda Cynon Taff |
Yes. |
Highways staff will bring dead dogs found into animal pound for scanning. If chip present, owners informed of the dog’s location and given the option to collect the body. |
Swansea |
Yes. |
Dead dogs collected and scanned. Also scan cats where practicable. Owners contacted where practicable. If unable to contact, body sent for disposal. |
Torfaen |
Yes. |
Do not check dogs for micro chips, although do check for collars and ID tags. If no ID tags the animals are kept 24hrs before being disposed of. |
Vale of Glamorgan |
Dog wardens will scan and “reasonable attempt” made to return animal if first time stray – if repeat offender, straight to kennels. Out of hours service does NOT scan dogs as not contracted to. |
Dogs picked up and note taken of location and description if owner contacts. No scanning. Body taken to depot and stored >3 months before disposal at pet crematorium. |
Wrexham |
Yes. |
Dead dogs are scanned for microchips and owner notified if found. |
|
|
A
huge thank you to GRW volunteers and regional
rep's who have now sent back their petition
forms.
Their efforts mean we have exceeded our target
of 2000 signatures - in fact we have collected
2400 in just one month. We are closing the
petition now as we hope this "snapshot" exercise
will be enough to demonstrate the support we
have.
The feedback I have had is certainly that people
were very keen to sign and there was a high
level of awareness of the issues.
We
also have overwhelming support among Assembly
Members with 40 out of 45 backbench A.M.s
signing the petition themselves.
The next steps:
The Greyhound Welfare Advisory Board composed of
Greyhound Rescue Wales, Dogs Trust and RSPCA
Cymru are meeting with the Minister, Elin Jones
AM on May 11th.
At
this meeting we will press our case for a formal
public consultation on the proposals set out in
"A better bet for greyhounds" by the summer, and
the introduction of welfare regulations for
greyhounds in Wales by the end of 2010.
There will be further updates after this
meeting.
A
huge thank you to everyone who has supported
this campaign in any way.
|
|
MORE THAN THREE
QUARTERS OF ASSEMBLY MEMBERS
SUPPORT OUR CAUSE – WE
ARE AIMING FOR 100%
37 out
of the 45 Assembly Members eligible to sign the
petition have now done so. This is fantastic support
from our elected representatives – we now need to
show them that the public cares too.
We
have over 850 signatures on the public petition as
of March 11 but we know that a substantial
proportion of these are from outside Wales. We have
set a target of at least 2000 signatures from Welsh
residents by March 31st. If we are to achieve this
we need the help of all greyhound lovers now.
Paper
copies of the petition are available – we urgently
need people to collect signatures from their friends
and family or in their workplace - please contact
info@greyhoundrescuewales.co.uk and we will
send you a paper copy by post or an electronic
version by email
Please
remind all your friends and contacts to sign the
petition. Ask them to go to
www.apgawwalesorg/betterbet
The
petition will close on March 31st so we need to
gather signatures quickly.
|
|
600
people had signed the petition before the start of
the weekend.
Plaid
Cymru became the first party to give 100% support
with all it’s Assembly Members signing up.
The
Liberal Democrats have also given 100% support to
the petition.
Nick
Ramsay AM (Conservative) has shown the strength of
his support by making the picture of him signing the
petition his profile photo on Facebook.
We
know we have many more supporters in the Labour and
Conservative parties who have simply not had time to
sign yet.
Lorraine Barrett AM Chair of the All Party Group for
Animal Welfare and "Greyhound Champion" signs the
petition, with Sian Edwards Dogs Trust and Alain
Thomas GRW.
Bethan Jenkins AM
signs
the petition. Plaid Cymru became the first party to
give 100% support to the petition with all it’s
Assembly members signing up.
Peter Black AM signs the petition. GRW is
grateful to Peter Black for having taking action to
help greyhounds in the Swansea area and now signing
the petition. All Liberal Democrat AMs have now
signed the petition.
Nick Bourne leader of the Conservatives at
the Assembly and long time Friend of Greyhound
Rescue Wales signs the petition.
Nick Ramsay AM signs the petition. This
picture is now Nick Ramsay’s profile on Facebook.
|
|
PUBLIC PETITION OFF TO A GOOD START BUT MORE
SIGNATURES NEEDED
the
petition stand in the Senedd
We have over 400
signatures on the petition after the first 2 days.
This is a good start but we need more.
Please remind all
your friends and contacts to sign the petition.
www.apgawwales.org/betterbet
The petition will
close on March 31st so we need to gather signatures
quickly.
AM’s SIGN UP
20 Assembly Members
signed the petition on the first day that it was
available at the Assembly. A total of 45 AM’s could
sign the petition and we are aiming at the very
least to gain the stated support of a majority of
A.M.s. We hope to achieve this by the end of
the week.
We already have cross
party support
We believe that most,
perhaps all AM’s will support our cause.
For information: The
remaining 15 AM’s (there are 60 in total) are
Ministers of the Welsh Government and they are not
allowed in law (or logic) to petition themselves so
we cannot ask them to sign.
If it becomes clear
that some AM’s do not want to sign the petition then
we will be asking members to write to them and
encourage them to sign. We do not want to do this
yet because we believe most will sign up.
The following AM’s
have signed up already.
Lorraine Barrett
Peter
Black
Janice
Gregory
Mark Isherwood
Nick
Bourne
Irene James
Christine Chapman
Gareth Jones
Andrew
RT Davies
Trish Law
Paul
Davies
David Melding
William Graham
Sandy Meuwies
Nick
Ramsey
Jenny Randerson
Janet
Ryder
Karen Sinclair
Kirsty
Williams
Leanne Wood
We can invite any of
our members who are in the constituency or region of
any AM’s who have signed up to send their AM a short
email to say thank you for their support. When
our representatives do something we approve of it is
good to let them know.
Lorraine Barrett AM Chair of the All Party Group for
Animal Welfare and "Greyhound Champion" signs the
petition, with Sian Edwards Dogs Trust and Alain
Thomas GRW.
|
|
Feb
23rd
GRW E-newsletter
mailed early am
GRW Website & Social
Media (facebook)
Dogs Trust Website &
Social Media
BBC Radio Cymru
Breakfast (Amanda)
BBC Wales Today TV
Main Evening News (Kathryn)
BBC Radio Wales
Drivetime (Alain)
Evening Post –
article featuring local personality & GRW supporter
Kevin Johns.
Feb
25th
RSPCA Social
Media campaign online
Weekend of Feb 27/28
Greyhound
Express mailed
|
|
The Sunday Time's Daniel Foggo has uncovered
another greyhound slaughterhouse, this time in
Hertfordshire, (Sunday Times 02 November 2008). The
difference between this and the "killing fields" he
exposed at Seaham, is that this is an actual
knackers yard that charges owners £20 a time to kill
their greyhounds using a bolt gun. The activity is
said to be legal and the owners of the knackers yard
say that their service is necessary to help owners
dispose of old or injured dogs.
GRW first published a paper in 2004 that
outlined the "routine" way in which many greyhounds
are disposed of after they finish racing. This
article underlines the nature of the problem and
provides more evidence that there is in place a well
organised system to kill and dispose of large
numbers of unwanted greyhounds when they "retire".
The exposé reinforces the need for proper
independent control over welfare standards in
greyhound racing. Hopefully, the National Assembly
for Wales will do just that within one or two years.
Self-regulation, as being proposed in England is
simply not enough and will only perpetuate the
status quo, and the slaughter. |
