Cork pound killed 223 ‘stray’ dogs last year. We should be ashamed

Being a dog lover, I am appalled at the fate of Cork’s stray and unwanted dogs. 

The Department of the Environment recently published the dog destruction rates for 2014. Once again, to our shame, Cork had one of the highest kill rates: 223 dogs. The cost of running the county pound, in 2014, was an astonishing €747,776.00, which is a huge amount of tax-payers’ money.

Many local rescues would be happy to avail of those funds. Compare Cork’s record with Leitrim Animal Welfare, which operates the pound as a rescue — of all the dogs that came into their care, only one was euthanised and their operating costs were €51,367.72.