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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 03 Hansard (Thursday, 11 March 2004) . . Page.. 1241 ..

Pets—statistics
(Question No 1396)

Mr Smyth asked the Minister for Urban Services, upon notice:

In relation to

(1) In relation to domestic animal services, how many pets were destroyed in the 2002-03 financial year;

(2) How many pets have been destroyed to date this financial year;

(3) Of those pets destroyed in parts (1) and (2) were any of them registered or were they all unregistered;

(4) How many dogs are registered in the A.C.T.;

(5) What figures or estimates does the Government have on how many pets in the A.C.T. are not registered;

(6) What is the Government doing to ensure more pets are registered in the A.C.T.

Mr Wood: The answer to the member’s question is as follows:

(1) 313 dogs were euthanaised by Domestic Animal Services (DAS) in the financial year 2002-2003, consisting of approximately 100 as a result of dog attacks, 40 either surrendered by owners for destruction or deemed unsuitable for sale by DAS staff, with the balance of euthanaised dogs unable to be re-homed.

(2) 185 dogs have been euthanaised by DAS to date this financial year. This represents a 6% reduction for the same period last year.

(3) Dogs euthanaised by DAS included registered dogs.

(4) There are approximately 27,600 registered dogs in the ACT.

(5) No formal figures or studies have recently been conducted. DAS estimates that registered dogs represent about 50% of total dogs (approximately 60,000) in the ACT.

(6) DAS promotes responsible dog ownership that includes dog registration, through:

• Active enforcement

• Attendance at various functions promoting responsible dog ownership

• Educational programmes for primary school children.

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