Yesterday’s news. I came across the 2015 Dog Control Statistics for Ireland. Superficially at least, the headline figure in the Euthanasia section seemed like good news, half what it was when we first adopted KiKi, standing at 1,824 rather than in excess of three thousand dead dogs. Move over a couple of columns though and you would find the figure for dogs strayed or seized is given as 13,051. The decline in euthanasia almost entirely attributable to the number of dogs transferred to welfare groups, rather than any sea change in our treatment of or attitude to animals as a whole. Since Boxing Day I have seen my Facebook feed inundated with notices of pups surrendered or abandoned and dumped, with appeals from welfare groups for help to feed, foster or rehome them. A while ago I mentioned that I thought Huskies to be incredibly attractive and captivating dogs, but did not think they were the right type of dog for the life I could offer. This week saw a woman convicted of animal cruelty when she allowed one of her Huskies to starve to death, the other saved only be the intervention of the area SPCA.
We continue to buy and breed dogs, we simply incinerate them when they become inconvenient. The statistics might as well be buried in landfill alongside the animals we dispose of.

(Image by Shutter Paws Perth)