THE CORK DOG Action Welfare Group says since the beginning of 2014 they have been inundated with dogs that have either been abandoned or surrendered by their owners.

The group says “we always try to help but at the end of the day we are a small rescue with a very full shelter and little or no spaces. The post Christmas dumping has started and we are overwhelmed with calls for help”.

Speaking to TheJournal.ie, the group, which is run by volunteers, said that they have been handed over so many dogs that they don’t have enough foster places to house them in.

Abandoned

A spokesperson for the group said: “Many dogs we see are ones that are abandoned and have not been cared for properly, buy there are also a lot that are surrendered by their owners, for valid reasons, and they simply cannot care and look after them anymore,” she said.

Despite warnings prior to Christmas about dogs not just being for Christmas, the spokesperson said that this year there has been a definite increase in the number of dogs through their doors this New Year.

“It is a serious problem for us as it costs so much to care for these dogs and we simply don’t have enough people willing to be foster homes to them,” she said.

“Just today, for incidence, in the first four hours of opening we have seen eight dogs handed in to us, and it was twice that yesterday alone,” she added.

Left when they are no longer cute

A spokesperson from the ISPCA said they had not seen a huge influx of abandoned dogs, but said that generally when families get puppies for Christmas it is not until May that they start to see them being handed in, “as they have gotten bigger or started chewing on the sofa and may have lost their cute appeal”.

He added: “The fact is that we need to reiterate is that buying any sort of animal is not a suitable gift to give. It is a big responsibility and it certainly is not something to surprise someone with, whatever time of the year it is.”

CDAWG said however, that they are receiving so many dogs that it is putting severe pressure on the service they provide. She added that there is also an issue with people not micro-chipping their dogs or not registering the dog properly, so that when a dog comes to them and may appear to have been abandoned, it may simply have lost its owner.

Here are some of the animals that have been given in to the CDAWG this year: