Mansfield District Council’s Dog Control Service has achieved a 2017 Gold Stray Dog Footprint Award from animal welfare charity, the RSPCA, for the third year in a row.

The award shows stray dogs are treated humanely and safely while in the care of the council.

This includes:

•having an effective out of hours service
•the provision to treat any sick animal
•assessment and re-homing policies
•a commitment to scanning and checking the ID of all recovered dogs
•a micro-chipping service for a minimal fee
•promotion of responsible dog ownership
•appropriate training for officers in dog handling, behaviour and welfare.

Since micro-chipping was made a legal requirement for all dogs last year, the number of stray dogs picked up in the district has decreased from 547 in 2015/16 to 460 in 2016/17.

The percentage of identifiable stray dogs picked up has improved since micro-chipping was made a legal requirement, from 61% in 2015/16 to 64.5% in 2016/17.

And the number of dogs reunited with their owners after being picked up by the council has also improved. In 2015/16, 74% of dogs picked up by the council were reunited with their owners and in 2016/17, that had risen to 78.75%.

The majority of those dogs were pets who were picked up by the Dog Control Officer, scanned for a micro-chip, identified and returned directly to the owners without having to enter kennels. Where this happens, there is no fee for returning a stray to their owners – providing their pets are not recorded by the council as being regularly picked up as a stray.

Efforts by the council to reunite stray dogs with their owners and find homes for unclaimed dogs has included an increasingly popular campaign on Facebook. The council’s Facebook page publishes photographs of missing and abandoned dogs which have achieved a staggering 950,852 views over the past year – up from 778,629 the previous year.

Cllr Bill Drewett, Portfolio Holder for Safer Communities at Mansfield District Council, said: “Well done to the Dog Control Service for their ‘hat-trick’ in offering a golden service to our four-legged customers who have gone walkabout rather than walkies.

“And what an amazing response from the public in trying to help reunite these lost pets on Facebook! It is proving a really popular tool and, along with micro-chipping, is helping both to bring down the number of strays and increase the number of lost dogs reunited with their owners.”

If you find a stray dog, try to secure it and contact our Dog Control Service on 01623 463189 (01623 463050 out of hours) or email [email protected]

If you have any concerns about dangerous dogs, contact Nottinghamshire Police on 101.

Photographs of stray dogs are published on facebook.com/mymansfielduk