Does anyone know how many dogs are put in rescue centres each year?

[MarshaBrady]

Am helping ds1 do some homework.

Thanks

No-one knows. This is because rescue works in many ways, some of them not always as evident as others, and there is no controlling body or overseer, there is no public funding for rescue and because, frankly, until it impacts upon them in some way, most people and the majority of those who are elected to represent them don't give a toss.

The public will never get to know, for example, of the number of dogs which are taken out of some of this country's largest and most well known "dogs' homes" (which are POUNDS, not rescues) or "welfare organisations" out the back door and on the quiet by independent rescues just before those dogs are put to sleep. There are even less records for these dogs than there are of the number of dogs rescued from pounds and placed in rescue in a more up-front manner, with the cooperation of the pound.

Then you have the dogs which are handed into rescues by their owners... another completely unknown but enormous number, plus the dogs which have been taken into vets to be killed for no good reason and who find a sympathetic, ethical vet who instead passes him into the care of rescue.

As someone who saves dogs from being killed in pounds or by uncaring owners and who finds them rescue places across the UK all I can tell your son is something that anyone else in my position will also guarantee you as a fact, with their hand on heart... that there are far, far fewer rescue places available than there are dogs in pounds who need them and for this reason hundreds of innocent, healthy dogs die each week in those pounds.

Oh thank you Valhalla that is a fascinating post... although very sad. I did find the Humane Society of the US and they had some shocking stats on dogs dying. And even for Australia... but you are right it is incredibly hard to find for UK.

RSPCA's figures for their own organisation alone for 2008, which were the most recent I could obtain when I collated information last year:

Dogs rehomed by the RSPCA - just under 15.900.

Dogs killed by the RSPCA - 8,313. :(

The RSPCA kills more dogs than they rehome (and yet still, to my constant bemusement and anger people will donate to the RSPCA above their local independent no-kill rescue).

Bear in mind that these are their own numbers alone and thst this DOES NOT take into account any pound (and every council must by law have at least one, some have several) or any indeoendent rescue organisation, of which there are scores and scores.

I dread to think how many, but going by what figures are available for dogs that are put to sleep alone, it must be well into the hundred thousands.

I hate people sometimes.

Too bloody many.

Do you know, I've just realised my Freudian mistake in the post above!

The RSPCA did indeed rehome just under 15,900 dogs in 2008. They also killed 8,313 dogs according to their records. The amount of dogs they killed in 2008 amounts to a disgraceful figure which is more than half the number of dogs which they rehomed that year but not, of course, more dogs than they rehomed.

Maths was never my strong point!

coccyx beat me to it!

OP, your son can contact your local council. They will be able to tell you the total number of strays dealt with, of these how many were reunited with owners before going to kennels (ones who were chipped or wearing ID), of the ones who entered kennels, who were then reclaimed, and of the remainder, how many were killed and how many were rehomed/adopted. Most Councils will have figures going back for a number of years so you can map trends. As we are now in May, the total figures for the year 2010-11 will have just been compiled - years run from April to March.

Although this will not give you the total figure dealt with by all rescues, it will give your son a handle on the local authority's role and responsibilities. Some Councils will also have information about the stray dog service on the Council website, and it may also be worth your son having a chat with a dog warden who will be able to give a lot more detail.

Although big charities like RSPCA and Dogs Trust give lots of figures (see their websites for more details), smaller rescues are not obliged to provide any figures. If a rescue is a charity, then you can look them up on the Charity Commission website and see their income and expenditure which will be helpful in getting a feel for their work. Of course, not all rescues are charities and some are companies - Many Tears for instance which is a big organisation with a national presence. Slightly confusingly, this does not prevent them from asking for money/donations etc.

Also, bear in mind that rescues do not generally receive any money from either Councils or the Government, even though they may be preventing dogs from reaching the stray dog services run by Councils.

There is actually a big gap in the information on the numbers of dogs dealt with by rescues, and what makes it even more confusing of course is that not all dogs will be from the UK. Some rescues, Many Tears again for instance, regularly import shipments of dogs from Ireland. Some greyhound charities import dogs known as "galgos" from Spain (effectively Spanish greyhounds) because unfortunately they do not receive very good treatment there.

I'm seriously giving some thought to doing some proper research on this issue as it is sadly neglected at the moment, both by the practioners in the field and academics, although some aspects of dogs are being researched. There's enough material out there for several Ph.Ds and a whole journal of articles.

I currently work on stats for Wales - what I can get from local authorities, because FOI obliges them to provide it, but charities of course are under no obligation and in fact many are reluctant to discuss exact numbers for a whole host of reasons, some of them understandable.

How old is your son and what level is his research pitched at? He may be better off just focusing on local authority results which will be easily accessible.

Bloody good answer ScuttleButter!

Just to add that if councils fob your son off he can request the information under the FOI Act whereby they'll be obliged to answer him. Sadly, as ScuttleButter says, this only gives part of the picture as rescues like Many Tears and the one I volunteer for which don't have published records take dogs which come in under the radar - not generally for dubious reasons but those which are unwanted by their owners or, for example, are referred to rescue by local vets when the owner takes their dog into the surgery to be put to sleep because the dog is unwanted. Also, as I said, there are those which enter rescue on the QT, when one of the big rescues such as the RSPCA are about to out them to sleep.

He is 6. They all went to Battersea Dogs and Cats home and they have to find a fact to do with dogs or cats.

But now I'm interested. We could be on to a new way of thinking so not so many are killed or in centres.