Mr. Finbarr Murphy:

I thank the Chair. I am joined today by Paul McDermott, our immediate past president and local authority vet with Mayo County Council; Conall Calleary, chair of our local authority employees interest group and the local authority vet with Sligo County Council; and Bill Cashman, of Veterinary Ireland's companion animal national committee who is a companion animal vet in Cork. We thank the committee and the Chair for the opportunity to contribute to the committee’s deliberations on this subject.

Veterinary Ireland is the representative body for the veterinary practitioners in Ireland. Our members include those private veterinary practitioners engaged in farm animal, companion animal, equine and mixed veterinary practice, as well as those registered veterinary practitioners engaged from the local authority veterinary service, and the State veterinary services in public health, animal health and animal welfare veterinary-related duties.

Of these members, those engaged in companion animal veterinary practice and by the local authority veterinary service have the most knowledge and day-to-day experience of the ownership, surrendering and the abandonment of dogs in Ireland and it is from these experiences and knowledge that Veterinary Ireland has drawn in formulating this submission.

The threat to animal health and animal welfare posed by the current increase in the number of unwanted dogs impacts on each of the above sectors in a unique manner. There is currently much public disquiet due to images of neglected dogs on mainstream and social media platforms, as well as at the reported increase in the number of stray and abandoned dogs. A number of surveys have been carried out by the Central Statistics Office and welfare organisations that demonstrate a recent pattern in domestic dog ownership that has developed since the Covid-19 crisis. This is stated as domestic dog ownership, bearing in mind that there are a significant number of working dogs kept in Ireland, for agricultural and other purposes, and these are kept distinct from those owned in a more domestic environment.

In essence, two broad categories of domestic dog ownership now exist. The first is the traditional dog-owning family who see the benefits of pet ownership and who are prepared to adapt their own lifestyle to accommodate the varied needs of a dog. The second are those owners who take on a dog for initial situational reasons, for example Christmas or birthday presents for children to learn animal care, companionship during the Covid-19 pandemic, etc., but who then find that expectations are not met or pet ownership has a fundamental impact on their lives and lifestyles that they cannot sustain or both.

A recent CSO online survey of over 10,000 respondents found that 20% of current dog owners had acquired their dog during the Covid-19 crisis. There is an inherent danger that as these owners return to their previous working pattern, the practical demands of dog ownership of feeding, toileting, exercising, care during holidays, public control and health management, may become unsustainable. Behavioural issues for dogs in situations where the owner has insufficient time or resources to take care of them are well documented. Given the discretionary nature of dog ownership, it is inevitable that a number of dogs in this situation will be surrendered for rehoming, put-to-sleep, PTS, or simply abandoned. This premise is verified by the available statistics. The number of stray dogs and dogs surrendered to local authority pounds decreased dramatically during the Covid-19 crisis. However, the number of strays and of surrendered dogs increased dramatically in 2022. While figures are not yet available, this increase has seemingly continued on into 2023. The rate of increase has been so dramatic that many local authority pounds are full to overflowing and are experiencing great difficulty in re-homing dogs. Similarly, many dog welfare organisations are overwhelmed by requests to surrender dogs.

The data supplied by Dogs Trust implies that financial and medical reasons are a minor cause for the surrender of dogs to their organisation. The most prevalent reasons cited by owners include: unwanted behaviour at 24%, time available to take care of dog at 20%, accommodation challenges at 19%, no reason given at 18%, owner health and allergy at 16%, and financial and medical at 3%. The available data presented here indicates that the increase in surrenders and abandonments arises in the main not from the financial aspects of ownership but in the situational, environmental, and behavioural challenges to those who took on pet dogs and found that the required amount of time, accommodation requirements and behavioural aspects of their pets are beyond expectations and sustainable attentions.

While dog surrenders and abandonments were a growing concern prior to the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the impact upon local authority pounds and on organisations such as Dogs Trust shows that a significant proportion of the dog surrenders and abandonments since 2022 are linked to a reaction during the pandemic of the felt need to take in a pet dog for whatever personal reasons, and the after-effects of normalisation once the pandemic was over. There is also a need to both improve the quality and quantity of data on dog ownership and control in Ireland, as well as a perceived need to educate and inform the Irish citizenry on responsible dog ownership, not only on the positive aspects of companionship and affection but also on the practical demands of responsible dog ownership in respect of feeding, toileting, exercising, care during holidays, public control and health management, as well as the legislative rights and responsibilities including requirements under the Control of Dogs Acts such as, for example: control, fouling, noise nuisance and microchipping and licensing legislation.

Our full submission includes suggested possible actions such as CSO surveys and educational programmes from primary school to adulthood. Veterinary Ireland's members will also be available to work with Departments and other agencies in the pursuit of addressing the issues of responsible and compliant dog ownership and the problems of dog surrenders and dog abandonment currently encountered in Ireland. I thank the Chair and we are happy to try to deal with any questions the committee has.