The Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ISPCA) has expressed concern that the estimated €1,500 annual cost of keeping a medium-sized dog is a factor in thousands of animals being abandoned and put down every year.
According to new figures from the association, almost 4,000 stray and unwanted dogs were put down in the nine counties in which it operated a dog warden service on behalf of local councils last year.
The ISPCA says the average annual cost of keeping a medium-sized dog now stands at €1,500. The association believes some owners who abandon their dogs do so because they do not want to pay rising food, veterinary and pet insurance costs, particularly when the dogs get older and are more prone to becoming ill. There is also the cost of placing dogs in kennels when the owners go on holidays.
The association estimates that at least four out of five of the 5,700 dogs its dog warden services dealt with last year were suitable for rehoming. But more than two in three had to be put down.
According to Mark Beazley, general manager with the association, it is a "common occurrence" for pound staff to arrive at work to find dogs left tied to gateposts. This appears to be because their owners are either too embarrassed to admit they are getting rid of a family pet, he said, or do not want to pay for their care.
Another factor may be that they do not want to pay to have the animal put down, which can cost as little as €40, he said. In one pound in Ennis, Co Clare, dogs have been thrown over the wall for staff to find when they arrive for work.
"If they leave the dog into the pound, they can also absolve themselves by believing there is some chance it will be rehomed. But as you can see from the figures, the chance of this is slim.
"We have had dogs handed in by people saying their dog is too old and they have a new dog, or that they have redecorated their house . . . When you decide to take on a dog, you've got to realise it's a responsibility," he said.
"Nobody wants to put a dog down, and our pounds keep them for as long as possible. But it's a huge mountain to climb when we have so many dogs to rehome."
Mr Beazley said the number of dogs seized or surrendered to its services increased last year, although the numbers rehomed or reclaimed by their owners also increased by almost 20 per cent.
But the overall figure for dogs put down nationally last year will be significantly higher than the ISPCA figures, which only relate to counties Carlow, Kilkenny, Clare, Donegal, Kildare, Laois, Offaly, Roscommon and Wicklow. For example, Dublin City Council has a relatively high rate of success with rehoming. But figures released to this newspaper reveal that 249 dogs out of 1,493 seized or surrendered to its service or gardaí were destroyed.
A spokesman for the Department of the Environment, which publishes annual national statistics on the number of dogs put to sleep each year under the Control of Dogs Acts (1986 and 1992), said figures for last year were not yet available. But overall, more than 14,500 dogs were destroyed in 2006.
According to the ISPCA, its five full-time inspectors, who operate in 13 counties, also seized or had surrendered to them 124 dogs, 49 cats, 13 horses, five small mammals (including rabbits and chinchillas), two birds and two bearded dragon lizards last year.
Mr Beazley said the association received 5,732 calls to its helpline last year - up by some 2,000 on the previous year - about 20 per cent of which were passed to its inspectorate for investigation.
ISPCA inspectors: Animals seized/surrendered last year*
Dogs 124
Cats 49
Horses/ponies 13
Small mammals (eg rabbits, chincillas) 5
Exotics
(Bearded Dragon Lizards) 2
Birds2
*Figures based on inspections conducted by the ISPCA's five full-time inspectors in counties Donegal, Leitrim, Sligo, Cork, Roscommon, Longford, Wicklow, Kildare, Carlow, Meath, Laois, Offaly and Clare.The remaining counties are covered by inspectors from local SPCAs.