The councillor who led the fight against charging £100 for the collection of stray dogs at the last Pendle Council Executive has spoken out on the issue in advance of tomorrow night’s meeting where the issue will be reconsidered.
Liberal Democrat Coun. David Whipp said: “There are already charges for people who collect dogs from the kennels that are picked up when straying.
“If the dog is collected on the first day at the kennels, the charge is £36 plus the cost of the first day’s kennelling (£12). There is then a charge of £8.50 per day. Dogs are held at the kennels for seven clear days.
“Depending on when a dog is collected, the charge could be up to £99 under the present arrangements (or £116 if they count the day a dog is picked up off the streets and the final day at the kennels).
“The proposal was that the initial charge should be increased to £100. This would put the maximum charge up to £163 or £180, depending what days are counted for kennelling.
“At present, some dogs are being left at the kennels as the owners can’t, or don’t want to, pay the charges. Unless such a dog is rescued, it is put to sleep.
“People who may be considered to be ‘problem owners’ are already in the contingent who don’t collect their dogs; it’s cheaper to get a Staffy for a fiver. So the increase in the charge is unlikely to affect this group of people. They don’t bother collecting their dog (and paying the charge) at the moment.
“There are other people who are hard up who may currently collect their family pet that has strayed and pay the charge with difficulty. The steep increase in charge could well make this unaffordable. If the pet isn’t rescued, it would be put to sleep.
“At the last Executive, I opposed the increase in the charge from £36 to £100. I believe such a change would be ineffective; it wouldn’t address the issue of poor owners’ of dogs but could well lead to family pets being put on death row.
“I agree that more effort should be put in to tackle the downside of dogs. In terms of fouling, it was one of my main issues when I first campaigned as a council candidate over 30 years ago.
“Since then, hundreds of dog bins have been erected, thousands of tonnes of dog faeces collected and millions of free poop scoop bags given out. There have also been hefty fines for some people who allow their dogs to foul public places.
“The level of fine doesn’t deter people; my view is that it’s the likelihood of being caught or reported that makes a difference.
“Effective action is what’s needed; not an out of the blue, back of a fag packet proposal that sounds tough but is useless.”
In the present financial year, 109 dogs have been picked up on Pendle’s streets. Of these, 35 were returned to their owners without being taken to the kennels. Of the 72 taken to kennels (two were cared for by a dog rescue organisation), 42 were reclaimed by their owners, 23 were rehoused and the others were put to sleep.