This article is from page 10 of the 2007-11-06 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 10 JPG
ANIMAL rescue services have been working overtime this Hallowe’en to help pets who have bolted in terror of fireworks.
Clare dog warden, Frankie Coote said that this had been one of the busiest seasons ever and in just two nights last week, he dealt with 30 dogs that had lost their way in fright.
“It just gets busier every year. I worked through the night on Hallowe’en and Hallowe’en doesn’t just last for one night anymore. There’s nearly a whole month of it, with fireworks being let off and bon- fires being lit every weekend in Oc- tober.”
Stray dogs are still being brought in to the pound and Mr Coote is doing all he can to re-unite them with their owners.
“We’ve got about half of the ani- mals back to their homes but there are still a lot of dogs whose own- ers we haven’t found. We would ask people whose pets have gone miss- ing to contact us – we can’t get your dog back to you if we don’t know it’s TOD Estoy 0 roa
Good weather has exacerbated the dog warden’s difficulties as people have more opportunities to be out-
doors, letting off fireworks.
While most animals are acciden- tally strayed, having bolted in fright at an exploding rocket, one of the more sinister practices of Hallowe’en is for owners to abandon their pets under the guise of them having strayed.
“Some people use the night as an excuse to dump pets and then they are brought in to us.
“It’s a terrible thing to do but there are people who will do that,” he said.
The animals taken in by the dog warden vary from thoroughbreds to cross breeds. Some people who find animals keep them in their homes until the original owner has been found while other dogs are brought straight to the pound.
In the run up to Hallowe’en, pet owners were warned to keep their pets indoors to stop them running away or worse, being snatched by people with cruelty in mind.
“When an animal is lost, it’s very important that owners contact us so that we can help them look for it. We may already have the dog but we can’t keep animals indefinitely so we would appeal to people to contact us as soon as possible,” he said.
Frankie Coote can be contacted on 087-6225253.