Dog Warden Arrest, NDWA Urge Caution

written by Neil Burton (all rights reserved)

I recently wrote an article in defence of Dog Wardens after well known Our Dogs columnist Robert Killick wrote about ’dog catchers nicking your dog’ when they were actually operating in accordance with the Environmental Protection Act 1990 when seizing stray dogs.

Sadly it appears that in Wales a Dog Warden working for Carmarthenshire County Council has been arrested on suspicion of dog theft.  The Dog Warden who has not been named is employed by Carmarthenshire County Council in Wales and he has been suspended from duty.

The Dog Warden is alleged to have been involved with the theft of a pug estimated to be worth £1,000 that was not recorded as being seized by the council as a stray dog.  

A member of the public who was helping to look for two missing pugs telephoned Ammanford Police Station on the 20th August 2007 and was told that a pug dog had been handed in on the 10th August and had either been taken to the local holding kennels or the Dog Warden had collected it?  On checking with the kennels and the council there was no record of the dog being collected by either?  The police double checked and the dog had apparently been collected by the Dog Warden, the police arrested the Dog Warden on suspicion of theft and he is currently on police bail.  The dog was recovered by the police from a property near to the Dog Wardens home.  It is claimed that the dog had been stolen from its owner’s garden eight weeks earlier.

Whilst it feels that it is a great betrayal by an individual who is supposed to be ‘looking out for dogs’ caution should be exercised in regard to what has happened in this case, in the United Kingdom you are innocent until proven guilty.  For all that we know there could have been a breakdown in procedures regarding the recording of the dog being found rather than a case of theft?

However, well done to the member of the public on unmasking this matter and if it is a case of incompetence in recording and reporting procedures rather than theft lets hope that measures are taken to resolve this and preventing it from ever happening again.

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Tags:  Animal Welfare