THE Sun today exposes the horrifying scale of healthy dogs being put down
by animal charities — some for simply growling too loudly.
Around 20,000 mutts are destroyed each year, estimates the Dog Rescue
Federation.
Thousands have ended up at Battersea Dogs Home, Blue Cross and the RSPCA.
And a dog charity insider told The Sun: “Many charities work on a contract
with councils so they are constantly obliged to take on more dogs, no matter
how full they are.
“So they will say certain dogs that might bark and growl at staff have
‘behavioural issues’ and they end up destroyed. They just can’t keep up with
numbers.”
Around 47,000 dogs were abandoned in 2014/5.
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The charities are handed them direct, or via contracts with local authority
pounds.
Councils pay around 70p per dog per day, plus any emergency treatment, for the
first seven days they are with a charity or commercial kennel. Then the
financial support stops.
As it can take up to a year to rehome a dog many are destroyed to cut costs.
This week a whistleblower revealed hundreds die at Battersea Dogs Centre, and
described a “bias towards putting the dogs to sleep”.
In the year to last November, the charity’s three centres destroyed 1,309 dogs
— nearly a third taken in.
Battersea banked £26million in donations in 2014.
Denise Boardman, of rescue group Dogwatch UK, said: “Battersea are portrayed
as the ultimate homing organisation because they are endorsed by
celebrities. But they are just the same as other large organisations that
hold the council contracts.”
Battersea chief executive Claire Horton admitted this week: “About 1,200 of
the 5,000 dogs that came in we had to put to sleep.
“That would have been for a range of mostly behavioural and temperament
issues. These would be dogs that would be very dangerous and would be
unsuitable and unsafe to rehome.”
Blue Cross put down 525 of 7,500 homeless animals taken in during 2014, many
of which were dogs.
The charity gets £26million a year in public donations.
Before Christmas it was slammed for putting down a healthy 18-month-old German
Shepherd cross called Max.
Owner Heather Dews, 72, of Saltburn, North Yorks, had to give him up as she
battled cancer.
The charity said: “We did everything we could but Max’s aggression towards
people and dogs was so severe it made him a danger to others.”
Mandy Jones, Blue Cross director of rehoming, added: “The welfare of any
animal is connected to both physical and mental health.
“If an animal is very sick or seriously injured, or has severe behavioural
problems they will never enjoy a good quality of life, or could even be
dangerous, so the kindest decision may be euthanasia.”
The RSPCA, which got £43million in donations two years ago, has pledged to end
the euthanasia of any rehomeable animal by 2017.
It comes after the charity destroyed 1,676 dogs and cats in 2012. The RSPCA
does not hold any council contracts. It declined to comment.
Overbreeding has been blamed for the rise in strays, while the Dangerous Dogs
Act means it is illegal to rehome some breeds.
No official figures exist of dogs put down in the UK.
The Dog Rescue Federation wants kennels to report such numbers. The group’s
Paul Smith added: “If the public knew the true extent of dog euthanasia
there would be a national outcry.”