FOI Request - Cats and Dogs Entering Pounds
Request 101003690932
During the years:-
January 2020 - December 2020
January 2021 - December 2021
January 2022 - December 2022
January 2023 - December 2023
January 2024 - To Current Date
1. How many dogs/cats entered your local authority pounds (also known as kennels or animal shelters) in your area?
2. How many of these dogs/cats were euthanised?
3. For each dog/cat that was euthanised can you provide the breed, age, gender, microchip status and reason for euthanasia?
4. How many were reclaimed by their owners?
5.
A) How many were passed to a welfare organisation.
B) What checks do you make on the welfare organisation prior to sending dogs to rescue?
C) What is the criteria for being an accepted as a local authority welfare organisation?
6. In relation to question 5 How many dogs and cats were subsequently rehomed and how many were euthanised at the rescue/rehoming/kennel facility?
7. What is the amount of money spent euthanising dogs during the dates stated above?
8. What is the amount of money spent on vets fees, not including euthanasia during the dates stated above?
9. Please supply figures for the number of dogs seized as a banned breed type under the Dangerous Dogs Act during the dates stated above. Please provide breed details, gender, age, microchip status and reason for euthanasia.
10. In relation to question 9 how many dogs were euthanised, how many were returned to their owners, new homes or rescue organisations/sanctuaries.
11. What is the amount of money spent on the boarding of banned breed dogs and associated veterinary costs including euthanasia?
12. Please provide full details of your contracts for the management of "stray" animals, including key performance indicators and the amounts paid under this contract. Please provide full disclosure of euthanasia records. This will include but not limited to:
Number of dogs/cats collected,
Number of dogs/cats reunited within 24 hours,
Number of dogs/cats reunited after 24 hours and before 7 clear days,
Number of dogs/cats re-homed,
Number of dogs/cats euthanised including:
Breed, Sex, Microchip Number, Age, Reason for Euthanasia, How body disposed.
13. Please include and specify full details of dogs surrendered, rehomed or euthanised via the RSPCA, vet practices and local police authorities.
14. In addition we request a breakdown on the disposal of animals euthanised during the above years into categories and descriptions including but not limited to:
Individual cremation
Communal cremation
Individual burial
Communal burial
Carcasses donated and to whom
Carcasses sold and to whom and payments made
Since 10 June 2024 it has been a legal requirement to microchip cats. We request the following information:
15. Do you provide cats with the same 7 day holding period as dogs to give time for owners to be located?
16. On completion of a 7 day holding period does the cat become the property of the local authority?
17. How do you proceed with rehoming?
If no holding period or facility is available please provide answers to the questions below:-
18. Why?
19. What happens to microchipped and non microchipped cats who are believed to be strays?
20. Do local vet practices contact you for stray facilities?
21. What is your policy relating to deceased cats? Please provide details of scanning microchips, logging information, reunification procedures and disposal methods.
Response 29-01-2025
Updated 31-01-2025 (Question 21)
1. Year Dogs Cats
January 2020 - December 2020 14 0
January 2021 - December 2021 8 0
January 2022 - December 2022 11 0
January 2023 - December 2023 9 0
January 2024 - To Current Date 9 0
2. One Dog on March 2024
3. XL Bully, 2yo, M, chipped, stray unclaimed and no other action than euthanise.
4. Not held. This information is kept by the contracted kennel facilities that the Council uses. Information that is not held falls under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 - Information not held.
5. a) Not held. This information is kept by the contracted kennel facilities that the Council uses. Information that is not held falls under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 - Information not held.
b) That they are registered and able to take the dog in.
c) The welfare organisations are not ‘accepted’ by the Local Authority as it is our contracted kennel facility who organise the passing on of a stray dog to a welfare organisation.
6. All of the dogs noted in answer 1 minus the dog mentioned in answer 2 were rehomed either directly from the council contracted kennels or by a further rescue facility.
7. The one dog mentioned in answer 2 cost £176.65
8. None; the local authority do not pay for treatment on stray dogs.
9. None
10. None
11. Just the one dog as mentioned in answer 2, 7 days at £16.90 per day = £118.30 plus £176.65 mentioned in answer 7.
12. Stray dogs are either picked up by the dog warden, handed in to a vet practice who contact the dog warden, or handed into Police station by member of public. All three, will attempt to reunite the dog with the owner either via social media, details on microchip or the dogs owner is known. If the dog is unable to be reunited then the dog is put into contract kennel and charged to council at day rate of £16.90 plus £0.60 for heating if required over winter months.
Once the dog is put into the contract kennel the dog is either reunited after the owner pays the kennel charge plus a release fee of £28.25 or the dog is kennelled for 7 days and then rehomed directly by the kennel operator. A breakdown of whether the dog is reunited within or after a 24 hour period is not recorded by the Council as this information is recorded by the contract kennel. All of the dogs to kennel in the table below were either reunited or rehomed with exception to the XL Bully mentioned in answer 2.
Year Straying Dog number Dogs to kennel Dog collected before Kennelling
January 2020 - December 2020 30 14 16
January 2021 - December 2021 21 8 13
January 2022 - December 2022 28 11 17
January 2023 - December 2023 17 9 8
January 2024 - To Current Date 20 9 11
13. RSPCA not used in Scotland
The below figures are for dogs collected from vets and police:
Year From vet practices From Police Scotland
January 2020 - December 2020 2 3
January 2021 - December 2021 3 1
January 2022 - December 2022 3 5
January 2023 - December 2023 1 2
January 2024 - To Current Date 2 3
14. Just the one mentioned in answer 2, the dog was cremated via the vet practice that euthanised the dog.
15.-19. No, the Dog warden does not deal with stray cats
20. Vet practices will generally contact the cat owner themselves
21. Deceased cats are dealt with our Environmental protection team rather than Dog warden.
Response from Environmental Protection: If the council is notified of a dead cat/dog it is uplifted and taken to a local vet (Miller & Swan) for them to check for microchipping and they then contact the owner to inform them and arrange for the return/disposal of the animal carcass. If we get a Confirm enquiry regarding a lost cat that fits the description of the animal we have uplifted, we will advise the owner to contact the vet (Miller & Swan).