In Thursday’s blog I mentioned that we could not know that a dog was a “runner” while he was in the Pound as we ARE the Pound. A couple of people have asked me to explain what I meant, so here goes.
In many towns and cities there are two separate facilities, the Pound (or fourrière in French) and the SPA / refuge or another association. The Pound is the place to which all stray dogs and cats are taken, be it by the police or by individuals. Under French law, the Pound has to keep an animal for 10 days (actually it is 8 working days, so we say 10 days to be safe). During this time, the owner can show up, provide proof of ownership and sometimes pay a fee to reclaim his animal. Identification by micro-chip is obligatory at this stage.
If the dog is already identified, the same rules apply. Ten days is the maximum time the dog spends in the Pound.
If the Pound is a separate facility, there is usually an agreement with an association or sometimes several, who go and inspect the animals and take the ones that they feel are re-homable. The rest are put to sleep.
Several pounds make no effort to find the owners of dogs and have no internet presence. Others only publicise on the internet dogs who are identified or whom they think can be rehomed. This is yet another reason to identify your animal, especially if you are going away for more than ten days!
At the SPA Carcassonne we are both Pound and refuge. We are legally obliged to take all strays brought to us from within the area we serve. Each animal spends 10 days in the Pound, unless he or she is reclaimed. At this stage every single one of them moves (on paper- quite often they stay in the same kennel) to the refuge proper. This is why some of our dogs can be reserved but are not allowed to leave. It is our choice to keep all the dogs, most organisations who serve both functions do not do so.
Technically speaking the name “SPA Carcassonne” refers to the part of the organisation that is not the Pound. So when you donate money, you do so to this part. The Pound is paid for by the local authorities. Except the amount they give us is so small that we have to use SPA money to subsidise the Pound.
Refuges who do not act as the Pound do not have to take any dogs they don’t want to. They do not have the Police showing up with stray dogs. They do not have chasse dogs tied to the gates at the end of the hunting season. They do not have people arrive with boxes of puppies or kittens. All they do is agree (often against payment) to accept unwanted family pets etc. They have the right to say no, in which case the local Pound will take the strain.
It is the responsibility of the Mairies to deal with stray animals, and each Mairie should have an agreement with a local Pound or have other arrangements in place to deal with stray dogs and cats. It is they who should be contacted in the first instance, should you find an animal.
We are lucky; the entire area on which the SPA Carcassonne is situated belongs to us. We own the land and the buildings outright, as well as the building next door (which is where our “guardian” lives). We can function quite easily without acting as Pound.
Being the Pound is no joke. It is expensive to run (especially if like us you give the best possible care to the animals and operate on any injuries etc), and it is stressful, especially at peak periods, like now. Were the SPA to be just a refuge, we would have far fewer animals, far fewer headaches and far more money to go round. We would wonder what would happen to all the dogs and cats, but out of sight is out of mind, to some extent. Once a dog or cat has arrived within our four walls, we do everything we can for him or her. But if an animal is unlucky enough to be taken to another Pound (because they are out of the district we cover), where euthanasia is the norm, we do not get involved, as we have enough problems of our own to deal with.
Et voila, as they say in these parts!
Some of the kennels at the SPA plus adjoining parks