Increase in Stray Dogs in Birmingham

Thu, 25 Mar 2010

There has been a significant increase in the number of pet dogs being abandoned across Birmingham, with Councillor Neil Eustace placing the blame with irresponsible dog owners. Dog wardens collected 2,016 across Birmingham last year, a rise of 65 per cent from the 1,224 collected in 2007. Councillor Eustace has called for more stringent penalties such as fixed penalty limits to be given to animal owners who fail to fulfil their responsibilities.

The increase in pets being used as weapons by gangs has been well documented in the media, with the figures from Birmingham offering further evidence of this trend. 43 per cent of abandoned animals were found to be either crossed or pure-bred Staffordshire bull terriers, replacing Alsatians and Rottweilers as the most abandoned dog breed . There has been a proliferation in the supply of the dogs, which can be sold for considerable sums to gangs.

Councillor Eustace called on any pet owners who can’t take care of their pets to hand them in to an animal charity to be rehomed. In many cases, there are less malicious reasons for no longer keeping a pet, such as not being able to afford the vets bills.

Link to this page

Copy and Paste the following HTML into your page.