A Monmouth vets has collected more than 180 signatures on a petition to keep Monmouthshire's dog warden service.

Monnow Bridge Veterinary Surgery started the petition in reponse to Monmouthshire County Council's (MCC) decision to axe the position from the beginning of April.

Vets Louise Cole, Chris Walker and Kausar Visram said they had a call from Drybridge Veterinary Clinic last Thursday (24th March) to see if they recognised the description of a dog found wandering on a main road.

"Unfortunately the dog hadn't been microchipped so couldn't be easily identified," they said.

"We didn't recognise the dog and Drybridge Vets now faced the dilemma we had hoped to avoid – when they called the council, they were informed that the dog warden service had already terminated.

"No-one was available to collect the stray dog, even though we had been informed in writing that this service was going to be available until 1st April."

For full story see Beacon 30/03/11.