§ Mr. BlizzardTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what estimate he has made of the number of stray dogs in the United Kingdom; and what monitoring his Department undertakes of the number(a) recovered and(b) put down and the cost to public funds of dealing with stray dogs. [44409]
§ Angela EagleThese figures are not collected centrally. The National Dog Wardens' Association has estimated that about 139,000 strays were handled by local 517W authorities in 1995–96, of which 16,000 were put down. Where the owner is known, local authorities are able to recover the costs.