Madra offers to save 100 animals from being put to sleep
MADRA is urging Galway City Council to make much needed provision for dog welfare in the 2016 budget following reports that Galway has the second highest dog euthanasia rate in the country.
Galway City Council is one of the worst performing councils in regards to dog welfare, according to the Department of the Environment statistics for 2014 released earlier this year.
MADRA presented a proposal to Galway City Council in May of this year for emergency funding for 2015 of €10,000 to help prevent stray dogs being put to sleep, but has failed to get the money.
With a 47 percent euthanasia rate, the council put 104 dogs to sleep and transferred 26 dogs to MADRA, making it the second highest put-to-sleep rate in the country after Limerick city and county at 48 percent.
The rate could have been up to 60 percent if MADRA had not taken in the 26 dogs from the council.
According to MADRA spokesperson, Eileen Keleghan, this is a seriously under-funded issue that the council cannot ignore any longer.
“The council spent €15,000 on veterinary services last year, and we assume the majority of this went towards euthanizing and disposing of dogs,” told Eileen.
“Surely, it makes more sense to give this money to a rescue organisation to help them to give a dog a second chance.”
The charity only has a limited number of kennels and its running costs are over €160,000 per year, so any additional dogs would cost a minimum of €265 extra per dog.
“As a rescue operating in Galway, we feel it is our duty to put a proposal in place and continue to highlight the issue until something is done.
Last year the charity took in a staggering 474 dogs from the pounds in Galway and Mayo and another 303 dogs from people who could no longer take care of their pets.
“We are a volunteer organisation, and our volunteers are working extremely hard to meet our existing running costs.
MADRA has offered to rescue around 100 dogs from the City Pound in return for funding provision of between €20,000 and €25,000 in 2016, which could see the euthanasia rate reduced to as low as 11 percent.
“Our proposal may only cost the council less than €10,000 when the adjustment to veterinary fees is taken into account.
“Surely this is a small price to pay for saving so many dogs from destruction,” said Ms. Keleghan.
The MADRA proposal is back on the agenda for a meeting of Galway City Council today (Monday).