A new report issued by the Dogs Trust has revealed that 47,000 dogs were abandoned in one year.
The Stray Dogs Survey shows that out of the 102,363 stray and abandoned dogs that were handled by local authorities between 2014 – 2015, 47,596 of them were unclaimed by their owners.
Tragically, 5,142 healthy dogs also had to be put down by local authorities, who struggle to cope with the amount of strays in their care.
The overall figure represents a slight drop on the previous year’s figures (110,675) but, according to the Dogs Trust, this still equates to 280 strays being found across the UK each day.
Adrian Burder, chief executive of the trust commented; '‘To learn that over 47,000 unclaimed and unwanted dogs are left in council kennels should shock us as a nation of dog lovers. Abandoning a dog is simply unacceptable and sadly, Dogs Trust’s famous slogan “A Dog is For Life” is as significant as ever – if you are not ready to care for a dog for its entire life, do not commit to becoming a dog owner.’
Burder also underlines the close cooperation between the Dogs Trust and local authorities.
‘Dogs Trust works tirelessly with the UK’s local authorities,’ he says, ‘to reduce instances of straying by offering subsidised neutering and free microchipping, while this helps ease the pressure on council kennels, the responsibility must lie with dog owners.’
