PETITION CLOSED
PETITION TARGET: The leadership of South Dublin County Council, Dublin City Council, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council and Fingal County Council
UPDATE 3/5/2023: Ashton Pound owner was fined €30,000, a sentence that included no jail time and does not constitute justice, according to news reports. Meanwhile, the four councils have contracted with Midland Animal Care Ltd. for shelter services — ending a years-long relationship with Ashton Dog Pound. We thank everyone who signed our petition advocating for these animals.
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The bodies of five dead dogs are now part of an ongoing investigation by the Irish National Police into alleged animal cruelty at a Dublin Dog Pound.
Agents with the An Garda Síochána, or Gardaí, in June seized the dead bodies of the innocent dogs, as well as bottles of unsecured euthanasia drugs, after a whistleblower reported that staff of Ashton Dog Pound were mixing the euthanasia drugs with dog food of dogs scheduled to die.
The drug is supposed to be injected by a trained vet. Instead, the dogs who ate the drugs allegedly were left to suffer painful, prolonged deaths of intense suffering as their organs slowly shut down, according to the whistleblower and as reported by multiple Irish news sources.
Irish councillors also have spoken up against treatment at the pound, with one councillor calling conditions she witnessed during an unannounced visit “Dickensian.”
“In front of me on a very bleak afternoon, I saw numerous dogs on cold wet concrete floors with no drainage, heat lamps supposedly in place to keep the animals warm not operating, no appropriate bedding in place,” Cllr. Tania Doyle told the Dublin Gazette.
The investigation remains ongoing, but one person has already been arrested. Meanwhile, Dublin’s councils have to decide whether they will renew a $1 million-plus contract for pound services to Ashton Pound.
The dogs at this Irish pound deserve justice. The four Dublin councils must take every possible step to ensure immediate and lasting change happens at this pound.
Sign this petition asking the four Dublin councils to demand the immediate removal of any personnel found complicit or negligent in the dogs’ care, additional oversight of pound operations, and established and enforced animal welfare guidelines countywide.
Then read the Lady Freethinker story about conditions at the pound here.
