Dudley Council spending more than £60k dealing with stray dogs

The authority spent a total of £60,500 - which equates to around £165 a day - on lost and abandoned animals over the last financial year.

Hundreds of stray dogs were picked up on the borough's streets in the past year - with around half returned to their owners.

Councillor Hilary Bills, cabinet member for environment and culture, said: "In 2013/14, 522 stray dogs were collected from streets in the borough and we returned 242 of these to their owners.

"Since April this year through to the end of November we had collected 265 stray dogs and returned 145 to their homes.

"We invest around £10,000 each year on a kennels contract, and we work closely with them to re-home dogs when they are not reclaimed by their owners.

"To help us increase the likelihood of dogs being returned to their owners the council encourages people to identify their dog with a suitable tag bearing their name and address as well as having the dog micro-chipped," she said.

Stray dogs found are taken outside of the borough to City Dogs Home in Bucknall, near Stoke-on-Trent, which can charge up to £60 to £70 for a week's stay.

Last week it was revealed nearby Sandwell Council spends more than £300 a day to send their dogs to the same kennels, paying out nearly £105,000 to Serco to pick up the dogs and take them to the rescue centre.

Half of the dogs, however, are claimed by their owners, who pay a £25 fee to the council and a £10 a day charge to the kennels for veterinary and kennelling costs.

If the dog is not claimed within seven days it is put up for rehoming.

Dudley Council's budget for dealing with stray animals for the upcoming year is expected to increase with a total of £61,700 set aside to deal with the problem.

It said it will not take responsibility for the dogs of people taken into hospital or care, dogs belonging to prisoners or the dogs of evicted tenants. It also has no responsibility to rehome unwanted dogs.

The Dogs Trust said 18,798 abandoned and stray dogs were picked up across the Midlands in the last financial year.

Denise Broadman, from the Dog Rescue Federation, said the problem lies not with the councils but with the issue of dog breeding across the UK.

She said: "We need to see legislation which stops the breeding of dogs where there is no demand for them. It is this which leaves us in the situation of abandoned dogs left on the streets."