Should Councils Do More To Protect Adopting Families

[pikespooches]

http://www.areanews.com.au/news/local/news/general/council-deny-blame-for-sick-pound-puppy/2286633.aspx

Should councils do more and change their policies to protect animals in their care and the public who are adopting from their pounds?

edited spelling

Edited September 11, 2011 by pikespooches

[Nekhbet]

do they seriously hand out dogs without being vaccinated?

[cowanbree]

Difficult question. Our pound does not as a rule adopt out their dogs as they do not have the facilities to hold dogs over their 10days or quarantine them. The odd one does go to the SPCA but they are always quite full so generally any dog not claimed is pts because they will not risk adopting out sick dogs. Vaccinating would be an additional cost on a very tight budget and couldn't be done until the last day anyhow as the dog is not their property until then.

I personally rescued a sheltie from them 2 weeks ago and was informed prior to picking him up that they currently had parvo in the kennels. It was then my choice as to whether I took him. I think anyone not aware there is some risk is quite naive.

[MissMolly]

Our local pound, vaccinates every dog that comes thru there doors and adoptive famlies are told and sign a disclaimer which lets them know that the pound is unaware of any underlining health issues, they then can a free health check from certain vets in the area and if there is something seriously wrong with the animals health and they don't want to treat the animal at their own cost they can bring the animal back..

[Guest DBT]

As far as i know council pounds in SA only have to hold for 72 hrs and do not have to do any vet work at all (unless the animal is obviously in need of urgent veterinary treatment). After 72 hrs the city councils mostly drop dogs at AWL or RSPCA. Country pounds are hit & miss, as many don't have any rescue options and the tyranny of distance means many rural poundies don't see the sun again.

Most council pounds in SA are not open to the public. Dogs can be adopted from some councils, but it's not that common a practice and they can leave with pretty much nothing done.

[sandgrubber]

One of the interesting things about moving to the US is that I can now buy vaccinations and do my own dogs. It is SO cheap . . . and the shots are easy to give. If you buy in bulk, the equivalent of a C3 is a few dollars per dog. I'd think some change could be made in the laws to allow a trained shelter worker to do vaccinations under some sort of vet supervision. Selling sick dogs and managing epidemics must cost shelters far more than it would cost to outlay a few bucks per dog. Of course, this wouldn't get rid of parvo and there would be a few risks . . . but it would work in the right direction.

[Steve]

One of the interesting things about moving to the US is that I can now buy vaccinations and do my own dogs. It is SO cheap . . . and the shots are easy to give. If you buy in bulk, the equivalent of a C3 is a few dollars per dog. I'd think some change could be made in the laws to allow a trained shelter worker to do vaccinations under some sort of vet supervision. Selling sick dogs and managing epidemics must cost shelters far more than it would cost to outlay a few bucks per dog. Of course, this wouldn't get rid of parvo and there would be a few risks . . . but it would work in the right direction.

you can buy parvo vac here - works out abot 10 bucks each but you cant give a live vaccine such as C3 . Lots of things in Aus are way tied up and seem to do little more than give vets more business. Just the fact that the mandatory code in Victoria and NSW for breeding dogs compels breeders to vaccinate their dogs each year is incredible.

[Loopy Lola]

do they seriously hand out dogs without being vaccinated?

Over in WA yes ........some don't even charge or give out paperwork It is the minority that have any type of desexing voucher system .......for instance my local pound you can buy any dog as is for $30 plus rego . I bought a pure GSD pup aged approx 4 months for 45 bucks last week just so she didn't end up in the wrong hands . Rescues here don't pay for dogs they get from pounds either .

[pikespooches]

To add insult to injury two pups rescued not related by our group and placed into quarantine crashed overnight and tested positive to parvo with two different vets and were PTS. Some transparency about a current outbreak would also be nice although we do accept the risk if know there was an issue there we may have reconsidered.

[Greytmate]

http://www.areanews....py/2286633.aspx

Should councils do more and change their policies to protect animals in their care and the public who are adopting from their pounds?

edited spelling

Yes I think they should.

I had heard that there is a legal distinction between buying a pet (from a rescue organisation) and buying a dog (from a pound). Apparently pets have to be of at least 'pet quality' where as a dog can be of any quality. That's why pounds get away with what they do.

I guess we either have a system like QLD, where dogs can be placed undesexed and unvaccinated and some rescues obtain the dogs and sell them undesexed, or we have a system like Victoria where pounds must prepare the dogs for rehoming themsleves and dogs being sold have to be of at least pet quality.

By pet quality I mean that the dog is able to be a pet. A dangerous or sick dog wouldn't qualify. A pup would as long as it was healthy.

I prefer the Victorian system, but I know plenty of others here on DOL don't like it at all.

When I spoke to QLD state government when they were writing the state act a couple of years ago, there were no plans to reform the way that QLD pounds operate.

[pikespooches]

http://www.areanews....py/2286633.aspx

Should councils do more and change their policies to protect animals in their care and the public who are adopting from their pounds?

edited spelling

Yes I think they should.

I had heard that there is a legal distinction between buying a pet (from a rescue organisation) and buying a dog (from a pound). Apparently pets have to be of at least 'pet quality' where as a dog can be of any quality. That's why pounds get away with what they do.

I guess we either have a system like QLD, where dogs can be placed undesexed and unvaccinated and some rescues obtain the dogs and sell them undesexed, or we have a system like Victoria where pounds must prepare the dogs for rehoming themsleves and dogs being sold have to be of at least pet quality.

By pet quality I mean that the dog is able to be a pet. A dangerous or sick dog wouldn't qualify. A pup would as long as it was healthy.

I prefer the Victorian system, but I know plenty of others here on DOL don't like it at all.

When I spoke to QLD state government when they were writing the state act a couple of years ago, there were no plans to reform the way that QLD pounds operate.

The only drawback I can see with the Vic system is that pounds release only desexed etc which is great but still many are harbouring disease.

Also if a pound does sell an animal to a pet home and it does incur added expenses such as treating for parvo and the cost of clean up etc to the general public shouldn't the buyer be entitled to compensation? If it were a breeder or rescue that did this with no support they would have a case to answer I am sure.