Dog pound report says most animals put down were sick

WHILE the outcry following allegations by staff that animals at the municipal dog pound at Son Reus have been mistreated has not died down, the centre has released statistics for the first six months of the year, indicating that most of the animals put down were ill.
They included 199 pets which had been taken to the shelter by their owners, to be put down, because of illness.
The dog pound's report said that it has taken in 3'089 animals between January and June this year.
Of these, 47.9 percent (1'481) were strays or had been abandoned and 26.9 percent (832) were brought by their owners who no longer wanted them.
According to sources from Palma council, who administer the centre, of the 1'481 animals taken off the streets, 1'221 were strays and 260 had been abandoned by their owners.
Apart from them, 287 dead animals were taken to the centre, 199 were so ill they had to be put down, 130 were taken in because they had come to the end of their stay in other centres and 27 were kept in for health observation.
The majority of the 3'089 animals which the centre took in up to June were dogs (2'134), while there were 689 cats, 157 birds and 109 animals of other species.
At the same time, during this period a total of 2'950 animals were taken off the centre's register. Of these, 1'191 were adopted while 447 were put down.
The report also said that 530 animals were put down because they were ill, 342 were returned to their owners, 287 were dead when they arrived, 113 died, 29 were released, eight escaped and three were stolen.
In addition, the Son Reus centre also fitted microchips on 489 animals in the first six months of the year.