Cork County Council seeks tenders for dog kennelling service

Dog owners will soon find it easier to be reunited with lost pets or to rehome a dog in need of a ‘forever home’ thanks to a new service which Cork County Council is helping to develop.

The local authority has said it has advertised tenders for kennelling services for stray dogs it picks up and the successful winner of the bid will also have to provide a Facebook or website page which will show pictures and details of the animals online.

The news was welcomed by Cllr Marcia D’Alton who has campaigned to get such a service up and running in Co Cork.

She said that out of the 31 local authorities in Ireland 11 of them specifically run Facebook pages to highlight dogs which come into their pounds so that they can be claimed by their owners or rehomed.

“Another five local authorities liaise directly with an animal charity and these charities publicise dogs from the local authority pound along with their own,” said Cllr D’Alton.

“Three local authorities advertise dogs needing rehoming through the local authority website, uploading photos of the dogs and details of when they will be available. Two more run dedicated websites for their dog pound.”

Cllr D’Alton said that up to now only five local authorities make no effort to publicise the dogs in their care needing rehoming.

A report given to her by the council’s chief veterinary officer, Dan Crowley, stated that the council had a very good success rate already in reuniting dogs with their owners or rehoming them.

He said that last year they managed to do this for 86% of dogs brought to the pound, which was a happy ending for approximately 540 animals.

Cllr D’Alton said she was pleased with the high figure, but believed it could be improved with an online presence.

“People have massive empathy with dogs in need of a forever home and this publicity would of course help in rehoming the dogs,” she said.

She said she had received assurances from Declan Daly, the council’s assistant chief executive, that when the new kennelling contract is awarded, it will include set-up of either a Facebook page or a web page to help with rehoming of the dogs in the local authority’s care.

“I am really pleased with this. It will complement the work that the dog wardens are doing and will help the public to engage with the dogs who are looking for new homes,” said Cllr D’Alton.