Response to government plans to toughen dangerous dog law

The Mayhew Animal Home, an animal welfare charity working at the forefront of this issue in London, welcomes the recognition that change to the Dangerous Dogs Act is long overdue, having witnessed firsthand the horrifying consequences from the misuse of certain breeds in our capital and the ineffectiveness of present legislation to address the root causes of this escalating problem. However, it must be remembered that the dog welfare issues now prevalent in our society are not just as a result of “dangerous dogs”, but basically down to indiscriminate breeding, easy accessibility to and widespread irresponsible ownership of dogs across society as a whole.


Yes, we need to tackle the issue of anti-social behaviour with dogs, and amendments in legislation is a part of this, but it change will only happen if there is a wider overhaul of dog welfare strategy in the country, which should have as its basis prevention rather than draconian cure.

The Mayhew would welcome the opportunity to bring its wealth of experience on this issue to the debate as it was one of the first, forwarding thinking animal welfare organisations which has long been working with local authorities in London, the Metropolitan police and RSPCA to address this issue in a constructive manner.

The Mayhew believes that effective legislation must address issues of public safety, must place greater onus on the owners of these animals, not the dogs themselves. It must also primarily address the issue of where these dogs are coming from in the first place and why they are so misused and abused, otherwise nothing will change. The Mayhew would advocate a more over-reaching agenda as follows:

- A repeal of breed specific legislation

- Make compulsory micro-chipping, which alone will not address the issue, part of a registration package for responsible dog ownership, which should include animals being neutered, vaccinated, checked regularly and insured.

- Tighter regulations placed on the trade in pets from pet shops, on the Internet and other forms of media, and priority given to the stricter monitoring of both registered and “backstreet” breeders.

- Government/local councils to invest in designated and trained personnel, such as Animal Welfare Officers, who can work alongside animal welfare charities, both with local residents and pet owners to prevent the escalation of this crisis and make our communities safer for animals and people alike.

- Government to consider funding neutering programmes, which presently many animal welfare charities strive to fund themselves with extremely limited resources

Caroline Yates, CEO, The Mayhew Animal Home

Homeless Valentine’s Day litter of kittens born under moon of love on 14th

Six tiny kittens were born on Valentine’s Day at The Mayhew Animal Home after the mother was found wandering heavily pregnant off busy Harlesden High Street in North West London.


Rescued by The Mayhew’s Animal Welfare Officer, the mother cat –now named Valentine Love –gave birth to six healthy kittens on the 14th to the delight of staff at the Home.

The teeny felines are now being cared for by the Cattery staff and will be looking for new homes in nine weeks time.

In keeping with the theme of love and romance under which they were born, staff at The Mayhew have given each kitten a name meaning love in various languages: Amour (French) Upendo (Swahili) Agapi (Greek) Amore (Italian) Liebe (German) Lyubov (Russian)

Mayhew Animal Welfare Officer, Claire Harper, said: “It is wonderful that this story has such a happy ending and that on the one day of the year where we all have love on our mind, these beautiful kittens were born in to a Cattery decorated with hearts and flowers for the 14th! There is a sad echo to the tale though, as the mother, Valentine Love, was extremely heavily pregnant when I found her and there probably wouldn’t have been such a happy ending had she given birth on the streets. We don’t know if this cat has an owner, but many people do let their cats outside without thinking of the consequences of them being unneutered and how they are contributing to the high numbers of unwanted kittens.”

The Mayhew Animal Home makes sure that all cats, dogs and rabbits re-homed by the charity are neutered before they are adopted. The Mayhew vets will neuter kittens from nine weeks old, so after this age they will be available for adoption.

Anyone interested in adopting any of the Valentine’s Day kittens, should call The Mayhew from the 19th April 2010 on 0208 969 0178

Over 12,000 animals in need helped by The Mayhew

To start off the year highlighting how many animals and pet owners in the UK capital desperately need help, we have released statistics from our veterinary database.

Our computer system means that every animal that arrives at The Mayhew can be tracked and logged into a database. This includes every stray, abandoned and unwanted pet and also any of the cats, dogs or rabbits that have come to the Community Veterinary Clinic onsite at the Animal Home since June 2006.

These figures prove that as a small charity in a capital city it is essential to provide the services we do in order to save the lives of thousands of animals and provide support and advice to pet owners facing difficulty. These statistics reflect just how many animals are in need. The Mayhew is committed to giving every animal a second chance and we have veterinary staff available every day, in addition to care staff and foster carers, in order to get every animal back on their feet, no matter how long it takes.

The Mayhew Animal Home’s neutering statistics also reflect the high demand for both a low-cost and a free service. From 2007, the clinic has carried out 4523 neutering procedures. This includes the 513 outpatient bull breed procedures carried out free of charge in their Community Veterinary Clinic in 2009 alone (1130 since 2007 when the scheme began). Working on the premise that every female dog will breed and every one of her offspring goes on to breed then that can be 20-40,000 dogs in their lifetime* meaning a total of 1,026,0000 bull breed puppies were prevented from being born into a society already flooded with unwanted puppies and dogs.

*HSUS.org

In addition to re homing cats and dogs, we offer a Pet Refuge programme and run several Community Animal Care schemes with their four Animal Welfare Officers, including Trap, Neuter and Return for feral cats, homeless community support and free micro-chipping services. The Community Veterinary Clinic at the Home offers low-cost neutering and vaccinations in addition to the Free Bull Breed Neutering scheme, which is offered to all bull breed owners, irrespective of location or financial status as a way of actively adressing the hugh problem on over population and status dogs in London.