SIR,
I am writing in my role as principal vet at Elms Veterinary Surgery, Monmouth, and in response to last week's article in the Beacon regarding Monmouthshire County Council's (MCC) decision to cut dog warden services.
I would like to offer my wholehearted support for Kauser Visram's (Monnow Bridge Vets) views; the advice to release dogs back onto the streets if they cannot be identified and immediately reunited with their owners is wholly unacceptable and puts them and the general public at great risk.
I would like to make the following points.
As a profession, vets have a duty of care towards animals at the very heart of our values, and I fear we will be placed in an impossible position in the absence of a warden service since we still offer the first point of contact for many people finding a lost animal.
We at Elms, in line with the other practices in town and no doubt those of surrounding towns, will hold dogs whenever possible for 24 to 48 hours as highlighted in last week's article, and do our best to reunite dogs and owners.
However as Mr Visram pointed out, vets in general do not have the facilities or resources for the long term care of healthy dogs.
My even greater fear is that we, the police, paramedics and the local hospitals will have to treat the potential victims of this policy.
One major road traffic incident and the costs to all involved may seem cheap in comparison to the dog warden service.
With this in mind I beseech residents of Monmouthshire to take several courses of action.
We strongly endorse Mr Visram's advice to ensure your dog is easily identifiable with a collar and tag, but more importantly a microchip which is a permanent form of identification.
Secondly please consider signing the petitions which will be posted in local public areas and your veterinary surgery asking MCC to review this policy decision.
It is not too strong a point to say your dog's life may depend on it.
Kate Dixon
(Veterinary Surgeon, Elms Vets,
Monmouth)