“I rescue many dogs myself, I foster many dogs myself because the point is not to let them go to Ashton Pound.”

A group of animal rights protestors gathered outside the South Dublin County Council calling for the controversial Ashton Dog Pound to be shut down.

The protest at the council follows a demonstration held outside the Mansion House last month, after it came to light that dogs were being abused at the pound – which is one of the largest care facilities in the country.

The Ashton Pound operates dog warden services under contract for Dublin City Council, as well as for Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown and Fingal county councils.

According to reports, dogs at the pound are being given incorrect dosages of lethal medications, which leads to the dogs suffering for days before dying.

In addition, the animals are kept in cold dirty concrete cells with no bedding, and even healthy dogs are inhumanely put down if wardens claim they are too aggressive.

The pound is already being investigated by gardaí (the Irish police service) over these animal welfare concerns.

Animal rights protesters have braved the rain and travelled to South Dublin County Council.

It’s their latest demo calling for Ashton Dog Pound to be shut. pic.twitter.com/GbUP7r4nSm

— Hannah Murphy (@Hanelizaa) October 19, 2020

‘It frightens you’

A protestor outside South Dublin County Council. told FM104: “We’ve heard it for many, many years how it’s going in Ashton Pound.

“If you hear it, especially when you care about dogs, it frightens you.

“I rescue many dogs myself, I foster many dogs myself because the point is not to let them go to Ashton Pound.”

Some people I spoke to had never been at a protest before but said this was too important to miss.

“They don’t have a voice so we have to speak for them”.

Dominika brought her two rescue dogs to “campaign for their four-legged friends” pic.twitter.com/bya3dheh1t

— Hannah Murphy (@Hanelizaa) October 19, 2020

Under review

Following multiple demonstrations and petitions against the pound, a Dublin City Council spokeswoman said the council was “carrying out a review of the operations of the Ashton Pound and will not be commenting further at this time”.

Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council and Fingal County Council also confirmed that they are both carrying out reviews of the operations of the pound and refrained from commenting further.

Petition

A petition started by one of the dog owners, who personally experienced the callousness of the pound said: “The warden does not care about these animals, he just wants the money.

“I’ve had personal experience with these and they refused to give my partner her dog back and said he was put down, 1 day later he said that he wasn’t and that fine I could get him but I had to pay for him back, we paid and got him back.

“Even though he was only in there for a few days you could see from his eyes he was traumatised!

“This has gone on long enough, this place needs to finally be shut down and never opened again!”

The petition has already garnered over 35,710 signatures. You can sign the petition here.

• Read: Vegan model activist to plead guilty for allegedly stealing pigs in animal rights protest

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Mohsina Dodhiya

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