The legal responsibility in the UK for stray dogs is set to change in April.

At the moment the Environmental Protection Act 1990 advises returning a dog to its owner, if it is wearing identification; contacting the dog warden or local authority, or take it to the nearest police station.

In April this will change, for the worse.

DEFRA have stated their intention to make local authorities in England and Wales the ONLY agency responsible for strays, 24/7. £4million has been earmarked to deal with the problem. Divide that between more than 400 authorities, and we will be on the way to the stray dog problem in Spain, methinks!

What do you think?

You can comment by writing to poppy@dogstrust.org.uk

I believe one of the problems of so many stray dogs, especially in the UK, is overbreeding. If there weren’t such fairs as Crufts, encouraging people to breed simply to try and produce a ‘champion’, then that would considerably reduce the number of dogs in the UK.

The greyhound industry needs to be regulated to control the number of puppies born each year, most of which are discarded as ‘not fit for the purpose of racing’.

On top of that, there comes the problem of a recession, as now. So if people lose their home through repossession and have to rent a property, the first thing to be kicked out is the pet dog or cat.

Local authorities are hardly going to have staff willing to be on call to cover 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to deal with stray dogs. Where will they take them, if they do collect them?

My experience in our commune in France is that a stray dog is tied to a post at the commune workshop/storage depot, and someone from the Mairie telephones the nearest SPA or municipal pound, to collect the dog, sometime within the next 14 hours. Not very satisfactory.

Is this what will happen in the UK? Do you agree?