My Blog on Monday re uncontrolled dogs off lead sparked a good discussion on the subject, and eventually ended up re the situation of Dog Wardens in Ireland
After some research (two phone calls) I established that there isn’t one full time Dog Warden in the whole of County Cork.
We have 11 part time ones. I suppose that doesn’t sound that bad, but when you consider that the same person who is based in Cork city has to cover Clonakilty, which is approx 45 minutes by car West of Cork, as well as Midleton in East Cork, you begin to loose confidence in how effective this service might be.
I spend my time spread over both locations, and over the last 11 years have only come in contact with a Dog Warden once, well it was a kind of contact, as it happened when our dog licences had expired by 3 days, we got a note hand delivered through the letterbox advising us of the same.
As I have blogged about before on Pedigree Dogs, posted all over the town of Midleton are signs advising that not picking up after your dog incurs and an the spot fine of €125.00. No signs of this sort are in Clonakilty or any other West Cork town that comes to mind come to mention it.
Thanks to feedback on our Facebook page, we have been notified that the Dog Warden in Dublin are now patrolling on bikes, and are very active around St Anne’s park.
Again, looking at the feedback it seems that people that in the main, are dog law abiding people seem to be falling prey to these Lycra / Spandex clad bike riding dog wardens.
An instance where a lady walking a German Shepherd (GSD) on lead was set upon by the wardens, and due to the fact that the dog wasn’t muzzled, was nearly taken from her.
Over the last few weeks whilst out walking the block, I had seen a new person with a German Shepherd puppy, she was gorgeous, and I couldn’t wait for the opportunity to stop and talk with the owner.
Last night the opportunity presented itself. The owner a foreign gentleman, was only too happy to stop and talk with us, as it was great socialisation for the pup. She is 5 months old, and was totally adjusted to the situation, walking perfectly on lead, and well behaved when we were stopped. Not a muzzle in sight.
Two things spring to mind really about this, the first being that the Restricted Dog Breeds list is, as we all know, a joke, and secondly, it all depends on where you live in this country as to the level of activity by the Dog Wardens
BTW, it hasn’t been confirmed that the wardens are wearing Spandex / Lycra suits, but the person in Cork would want to be some cyclist if he / she is to cover West Cork and East Cork all from Cork City.
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