Cork council to review dog warden hours as dangerous dog incidents rise

The only properly trained personnel to deal with dangerous dogs have very restricted working hours due to insurance cover.

A spate of incidents involving dangerous dogs in Co Cork has prompted council officials to rethink the working hours of dog wardens after it was revealed they can’t deal with emergencies at weekends or evenings. 

Independent councillor Peter O’Donoghue told Cork County Council officials of a litany of dangerous dog issues he’d come across recently and how he was horrified to discover the only properly trained personnel to deal with them had very restricted working hours due to insurance cover.

He highlighted a case of wardens being unable to attend outside of official working hours when a severely neglected dog was found. 

“Upon contacting the local dog warden, I was informed that nothing could be done until Monday morning in relation to the issue as I was told that the dog wardens were not insured, nor permitted, to work out of hours,” he said.

There had other issues in recent months, including two dangerous XL Bully dogs roaming around Mitchelstown on a Saturday night.

“Gardaí asked the local dog wardens for assistance but even though they wanted to help they were forced to refuse assistance until Monday morning. There was an incident in Fermoy where an individual was attacked and badly hurt in her own home on a Saturday evening and even though the dog wardens were called, they again were unable to assist until the following Monday morning," Mr O’Donoghue said.

He was also made aware of another incident in Mallow where again two XL Bully dogs were roaming the streets during the weekend.

“The local dog warden went against protocol in this incidence, as he was very concerned about safety in the town and managed to round up the two dogs on his own and put them into a farmer’s shed until the following Monday morning,” Mr O’Donoghue said.

The only arrangements currently in place are to log the incidents at weekends and deal with them at 9am on Monday. 

“That’s not acceptable, it needs to be addressed, and an appropriate response needs to be put in place,” Mr O’Donoghue said.

There are around 75,000 dogs in the county while the council has just five full-time dog wardens and three who are part-time.

The post of dog warden supervisor is currently vacant and arrangements are being made to have it filled as soon as possible.

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In the meantime, funding has recently been approved by the Department of Rural & Community Development (DRCD) for the recruitment of two additional dog wardens. The council is still in discussion with the department on the drawdown of that money.

The issue was raised at a meeting of the council’s Northern Division.

In response divisional manager Lorraine Lynch said that once these positions are filled the council’s executive will look at dog warden service levels and the request for out-of-hours cover.