Donegal dog owners to face increases in on-the-spot fines for roaming dogs

The Department of Rural and Community Development has announced an increase in on-the-spot fines for owners of dogs that are left to wander or are not under their owner’s control.

From the 1st December 2023, the owners of loose dogs are liable for a fine of €300. In addition, if the dog has no collar or an incorrect collar/ID, their owner can be fined €200.

The number of lost and found dogs reported to Animals In Need (AIN) recently is staggering.

Some of the dogs are genuine cases where they have accidentally got out, but in many cases, it is the same dogs wandering around.

Microchipping a pet dog is a legal requirement, yet many of the dogs that are being found do not have them. Only one dog out of the last three rescued had a microchip and even then, the details on the chip were incorrect.

Allowing dogs to roam is unfair to both the dog, the public and other animals they may meet.

(Above: Pregnant kitten turned out to be a boy!) 

Apart from the danger to the dog and vehicle drivers if the dog is running in the road and causes an accident, some people, especially children, are scared of dogs and should not have to walk around in fear that a loose dog is going to charge up to them.

If you find a dog, please get them scanned by a vet for a microchip, advertise that you have found them and, by law, the Letterkenny Dog Shelter should be contacted.

Anyone who has lost their dog should contact the Letterkenny Dog Shelter as their first port of call, then contact your local animal rescues and vets.

AIN are happy to help reunite lost and found dogs and cats but are appealing to the public to follow the advice given.

AIN’s cat rescuers have also been busy responding to emergency calls, including a report of a pregnant white cat who had been found staggering along and bleeding in Letterkenny.

AIN’s volunteers rushed her straight to the vets, where Whitney the cat was found to have an extremely high temperature and she was transferred to another clinic for emergency surgery.

It transpired that Whitney was no longer pregnant and had already aborted her kittens, which was the cause of the bleeding, and her uterus was inflamed and infected.

Sadly, that was the least of her troubles, as her stomach was also inflamed and her gut lining had thickened and hardened, which was why her stomach was so big as the food she had eaten was stuck there.

Tragically, there was nothing that could be done to help her. As the food was lodged in her stomach, Whitney was not getting any nourishment which was why she was so weak when she was found, after staggering in and collapsing in a local person’s kitchen.

(Above: Sadly Whitney was beyond help) 

Meanwhile, a pregnant 5-month-old kitten found last week was taken to the vets for a check up, only to reveal the kitten was in fact a boy!

He is in good health and was only bloated by worms and from being greedy, and his stomach has gone down following treatment for parasites.

Sissy, a cat found last week with a pipe stuck around her neck, which had to be surgically removed, unfortunately refused to look after her kittens and so they are now being hand reared by an AIN fosterer.

AIN’s exhausted volunteers are working at full capacity but they continue to do whatever they can to help the abandoned, lost and unwanted animals in Donegal.

The only solution to the escalating problem is for less animals to be born, which will only happen if there is widespread neutering of dogs and cats.

(Above: Donegal's dog population is out of control)

Last week AIN neutered another ten cats, including a colony of five cats who were all females.

AIN are appealing to people to neuter their pets and to help by borrowing a humane cat trap from the charity and carrying out Trap/Neuter/Return of any stray and feral cats in your area to stop pointless deaths like Whitney’s. For further information, please contact the cat helpline.

To help AIN’s animals, please donate €2 to AIN’s ‘Help Us To Help Them’ fundraising appeal via your phone by texting the word ‘KITTEN’ to 50300. Every last cent goes directly to the rescued animals for their food, bedding, vet bills, worming treatment and vaccinations.

For further information on adoption, fostering, volunteering etc, please contact the main helpline on 087 1356188. For cat/kitten enquiries please call 087 7644420. Animals In Need Donegal is also on Facebook and has a website at http://www.animalsinneeddonegal.com.