A GOULBURN Mulwaree Council ranger has disputed claims that the afterhours phone service advises people to leave stray dogs wandering the streets.
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Pound ranger Daniel Kennedy told the Post that the process of bringing dogs in to the facility differs after-hours due to staff numbers.
“Within Council hours we can pick it up or they can bring it in. After hours we have emergency on call staff,” he said.
Mr Kennedy specified that emergency staff were less likely to collect a stray dog from a quiet residential area, and more likely to attend to situations in which injury to the animal or surrounding people was a possibility.
“If a stray dog is found on a busy street we will pick it up, but if it’s in a residential area we ask if they could hold on to the dog overnight and bring it in the following day, sadly, due to staff numbers.
“Emergency staff will attend to stock on roads, dog attacks and situations like that which require immediate attention if there is a high risk of someone being injured.”
Sixteen dogs came into the pound’s care over the Christmas break, an increase on last year’s quiet season.
“Every year is different but we were quite busy.
“Eleven (dogs) went home and three have started the process of re-homing or have been re-homed,” he said.
Upon a canine arriving at the pound they are checked for a microchip, and after a certain amount of days in rangers’ care, becomes available for re-homing if uncollected by the owner.
“After seven days from when an unmicrochipped dog is brought to the pound, they are available to be bought or rehomed.
A microchipped dog has 14 days to be collected,” Mr Kennedy explained.
After that period, if they are still uncollected or bought, the pound will utilise their connections with other agencies such as RSPCA and Pet Rescue, to rehouse the animal.
“There are 12 dogs at the moment, some of which have been surrendered by their owners, and we have been busy with rehoming over the past week, a lot of people are coming through and buying animals which is good.
“If anyone would be interested in buying a dog or cat, they should come in. Some are available at the moment and some are waiting to be available.”
A flat fee of $280 is charged for dogs, and $200 for cats. The cost covers the animal to be microchipped, registered, desexed and vaccinated
