Animal shelters in Ireland are in a "crisis" as they are overwhelmed by the amount of dogs being surrendered into their care and they don't have enough resources.
The Irish Mirror spoke to Ciara Murran, head of communications at Dogs Trust in Dublin about the pressure her organisation is facing.
More than a year on from lockdowns caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, animal shelters are still getting more dogs that their owners no longer feel they can care for.
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"It's a really dire situation," she said, adding that it wasn't just Dogs Trust but all animal shelters and pounds that were facing challenges.
"We know from post pandemic, life after lockdown, people are going back to their normal lives. They're going back to work and dogs are exhibiting unwanted behaviours and as a result, people are having to surrender their dogs.
"But that's not the only situation that that people are finding themselves in."
Dogs Trust
Housing crisis, cost of living crisis
Murran says a dog's behaviour isn't the only factor that might make it untenable for their owners to keep it.
The housing crisis and the cost-of-living crisis are also huge factors in why people are giving up their animals.
"Unfortunately, dogs are facing a really, really tough time."
Dogs Trust staff are now regularly picking up the phone to distraught people who have to surrender their dogs because their situation has changed.
Murran stressed that Dogs Trust staff are non-judgemental.
"People never go out and get a dog with the thought that they're going to have to give it up.
"That just isn't why people get a dog in the first place. We really understand that. We really acknowledge that there are so many reasons that people are ended up in this situation and it's our job to get to the bottom of it, to get to the root cause and try and fix that."
Dogs Trust
Thousands of animals being surrendered
In the first three months of 2023, Dogs Trust alone has received more than 1,000 requests for people surrendering their dogs.
"That was compared to just over 700 for the same period last year," Murran said.
"So that's over 40 per cent increase. It's a huge increase.
"We're we're just seeing this rise year on year ever since the pandemic."
Difficult to watch
Murran said it's really difficult for charities to have to turn away dogs from their care due to a lack of resources.
"We would love to be able to help every single person that wants to surrender their dog but we don't have the space.
"Everyone across the country is facing the same situation.
"There are more dogs needing homes than there are homes for for dogs to go to and that's the really, really sad truth about it.
"Everyone's trying their very, very best, it's a horrible, horrible situation."
Murran described the situation as a "crisis" that is "incredibly challenging and overwhelming".
"It is overwhelming. It's particularly overwhelming for our frontline staff who are seeing this day in day out who are caring for the dogs here who are trying to get them into foster homes so that they don't have to come into it into a kennel environment who are trying to keep them in their homes, potentially until they find a new home for them."
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