The Second Reading of the wide ranging Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Bill raised specific concerns in the House of Commons yesterday about exactly who will be responsible for the apprehension and care of stray dogs out of normal office hours when Local Authority Dog Wardens have gone home for the day.

The Bill seeks the removal of all police involvement in the apprehension and care of stray dogs. (These powers and duties which will be repealed by the new Bill, were given to police forces under section 3 of the Dogs Act 1906 and section 150 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990).

Whilst the current reality, widely accepted, is that the police have little or no time for dealing with such matters, concerns expressed, in consultation, by animal welfare organisations such as Dogs Trust and the Kennel Club, were raised by M.P.s. Tory M.P. Derek Conway, spoke about the lack of provision in the Bill for an out-of-hours and weekend Dog Warden service.

Derek Conway said:

"The council dog warden scheme is remarkable. There are many dedicated men and women out there in the most dreadful conditions and weather, in poky little vans, doing a great deal to round up stray dogs and find their owners or, if they cannot, have the dogs taken into care. The dog wardens, who are represented on a number of animal welfare charity forums, do a splendid job for pretty poor pay and in dreadful working conditions. They do that job pretty well 9 to 5, Monday to Friday. There are exceptions, but not many.

"Out-of-hours cover is necessarily provided by the police. Although the Government will doubtless elucidate this in Committee, I can find no reference in the Bill to what will happen after 5 pm or before 9 am and on Saturdays and Sundays, when council dog wardens are not available. No doubt the Minister will also tell us the cost involved, but that too is not really dealt with in the Bill.

"Where will a wandering dog be taken? If a dog is worrying children in a park, who will come? Most people would think of calling the police, for not enough dog wardens are floating around local authority areas for them to be on patrol as often as the police should be. In many of our constituencies, there is likely to be confusion over who is responsible for controlling stray dogs that worry children in public play areas."

He went on:

"It is not clear whether, once the police arrangements have gone, enforcement of care for strays will become a local authority responsibility 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There is no such requirement in the Bill."

Tory M.P. David Amess read out a submission from Dogs Trust:

"Current legislation lays responsibility for dealing with stray dogs jointly between the police and local authority. The Environmental Protection Act lays a duty on local authorities to appoint a person to deal with stray dogs, hold them for a period of seven days and then to dispose of them, usually to a re-homing organisation such as Dogs Trust. This person is usually called the Dog Warden or Animal Welfare Officer.

In practice in most local authority areas the Dog Warden service is active during normal . . . working hours. Dogs found straying during these hours are collected and dealt with by the Dog Warden and, in general, there is a reasonable level of service.

However at night and at weekends when the Dog Warden service is not available the police have a duty to accept stray dogs. Usually the Dog Warden collects such dogs when they come back on duty and become responsible for their care. Because most dogs stray by accident and most are exercised in the evenings and at weekends it seems likely to Dogs Trust that a significant proportion of stray dogs will stray during the same period. This supposition is borne out by anecdotal evidence."

The view that the Bill is an opportunity to force Local Authorities to provide 24 hour cover for Dog Warden services was expressed by a number of M.P.s from both sides of the House. However, concerns were also raised about increased costs to Local Authorities.

The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, (Defra), Margaret Beckett, told the Commons that Local Authorities will be able to retain all receipts from fixed penalties such as fines for dog fouling. This, she said, would help to offset the cost of enforcing the new legislation.

Could this be an opportunity for the underpaid membership of the National Dog Wardens Association, (NDWA) to persuade Local Authorities to improve each others income with a bit of overdue overtime? Or will councillors be persuaded by the cut-price tenders of local cowboy dog-clamping outfits?

The Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Bill deals of course with local issues beyond stray dogs and dog fouling. It addresses growing concerns over litter, graffiti, noisy pubs and abandoned cars. It will make Britain "cleaner, safer and greener", said Mrs Beckett.

Submitted by: Steve O'Malley      

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sufrench
I am a call line operator for People and dogs Society (a bit like citizens advice for dogs)
The majority of my calls are for people wanting to rescue drehome dogs or wanting to know what to do with a dog they have found.
The calls I receive for stray dogs found by the general public come in at all hours but is considerably greater during weekends, Easter and Christmas when the Council offices are closed. In Cornwall few Police stations have kennel facilities, they will not collect the dog and sometimes try to say they are not responsible.
At the present time dog wardens in this area are only contacted through the council offices which can be closed for several days over holiday periods. Although most people can easily find the telephone No. of their local Council I doubt that the private telephone No. of a dog warden could be given out due to problems with identity. They are threatened etc. under certain circumstances.
The Service offered by PADS is possibly the only advice line that operates 24 hours a day if the call operator is at home and willing to get up at 3-00 am !

Su French

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