Abstract
BackgroundThere are no peer reviewed data on dog control records from an official agency in Ireland. In order to address this, a total of 2,669 official dog control service records generated during 2007 by Cork County Council dog control service were reviewed.ResultsOver 70 percent of records related to unwanted dogs and dogs not under their owners control. Stray dogs were collected by the service regularly throughout the year but with notable increase in voluntary surrenders by owners from January through to April. The majority of dogs collected or surrendered were male (2:1 ratio), of medium size, described as having a friendly temperament and were not wearing a neck collar. The Crossbreed and Greyhound breeds were more frequently collected as strays, while Greyhounds and German Shepherds were more frequently voluntarily surrendered by their owner. Restricted breeds such as Pit Bull terriers, German Shepherds and Rottweilers were more frequently reported by members of the public for aggressive behaviour while the only restricted breed reported for biting or snapping was the German Shepherd.ConclusionsRoutine recording of dog control services in County Cork provide data on responsible dog ownership including the licensing of breeds, and surrender of owned dogs and the collection of stray dogs. Data capture and utilisation of dog control services by local authorities has potential to inform policy on responsible dog ownership and education programmes.
Highlights
There are no peer reviewed data on dog control records from an official agency in Ireland
In a review of data obtained from 81 OIE member countries, Dalla Villa et al reported that dog registration/licensing was the most frequent method used for dog control, and that in 72% of OIE countries, local authorities were responsible for implementing dog control [10]
The objective of this paper is to review official dog control data generated by the Cork County Council dog control service during 2007 and discuss the value of these data to inform policy on responsible dog ownership
Summary
There are no peer reviewed data on dog control records from an official agency in Ireland. In a review of data obtained from 81 OIE member countries, Dalla Villa et al reported that dog registration/licensing was the most frequent method used for dog control, and that in 72% of OIE countries, local authorities were responsible for implementing dog control [10]. These reports commented that there is a universal lack of stray animal control data collected by authorities [9] and an absence of published studies on dog control data [10]
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