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Press, 9 June 1980, Page 1

Wanted: a new home for a lonely puppy, said this little fellow at the kennels of the Christchurch branch of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals yesterday. Unfortunately, he is only one of many dogs at the S.P.C.A. kennels which are looking for new homes. If no home is found, they will eventually be destroyed. The society’s inspector (Mr F. Grimes), who is concerned about the number of dogs being abandoned in Christchurch, had harsh words for some dogowners.

“It’s the owners who should be put in the cages for two or three weeks, rather than the dogs,” he said.

Mr Grimes said the S.P.C.A. kennels had more dogs recently than they had had for years. The kennels were “overflowing” last week, and yesterday he estimated that there were more than 90 dogs there. The problem was that people bought dogs without having them spayed or neutered. When they could not sell the puppies, they

took them to the S.P.C.A. because of the cost of keeping and registering them.

Mr Grimes said be wanted the Government to pass legislation making it compulsory to neuter or spay dogs which were not used for breeding.

The S.P.C.A. was “getting tough’’ and sometimes asked people to pay for the keep of pups left at the kennels but if the S.P.C.A. refused to take puppies, people took them down the road and dumped them out of the car window, said Mr Grimes. The S.P.C.A. also received about 30 telephone calls each day from people who wanted to get rid of their dogs. However, the S.P.C.A. take only injured dogs or puppies under three months.

The problem was aggravated because council pounds would give dogs away for only the cost of a licence fee, said Mr Grimes. The S.P.C.A. always ensured that dogs were neutered or spayed, but this cost more.