CITY of Mandurah re-homed 98 per cent of its impounded dogs in the first six months of the 2017-18 financial year, taking second place in the re-homed dog best figures in a survey of nine local government authorities.
Although it had the second worst figures for impounded cats at 269, it boasted the third best re-homed cat figure at 90 per cent.
In the six months, the City impounded 442 dogs, sent 59 to rescue, returned 372 to their owners, two to new owners and nine were put down.
Get in front of tomorrow's news for FREE
Journalism for the curious Australian across politics, business, culture and opinion.
READ NOWOver the same months, 269 cats were impounded, 223 were sent to rescue, four returned to their owner, four to new owners and 20 put down.
In the Shire of Murray, 106 cats and dogs were impounded.
Shire chief executive Dean Unsworth said the majority were reunited with their owners or appropriately re-homed.
He said 10 impounded animals were put down.
City of Mandurah chief executive Mark Newman said responsibility lay with pet owners to ensure their dogs were registered and under control at all times.
“Dog and cat registrations are imperative for a number of reasons including safe and easy identification, reuniting lost animals with their owners and investigating dog-related issues such as attacks,’’ he said.
“We know pets are part of the family and our rangers work hard to return them to their owners if found but this is a very difficult without registration and micro chipping.
“Owners must also keep control of their dogs while walking them on streets, beaches and in parks and keep their dog on a lead unless in a designated off-leash exercise area.
“Our rangers work hard to promote responsible pet ownership throughout the City but ultimate responsibility lies with pet owners to ensure their pets and our community remain safe.”
RSCPA WA communications manager Richard Schoonraad said it was a statutory requirement to keep any animal that came into a pound facility for seven days to give owners the chance to come forward but beyond that all pounds had different policies regarding re-homing and euthanasia.
He said one way of alleviating the number of animals put down in a pound situation was to look at adopting a rescued animal rather than buying a new one.
MORE: Department of Local Govt investigating cities of Perth and Joondalup over undisclosed gifts
MORE: Family reunited with dog a year after believing it had been put down
