UNWANTED PETS - DISPOSAL OF DOGS AND CATS IN A PROVINCIAL AUSTRALIAN CITY

During August, 1991, 328 pets (206 dogs, 116 cats and six others) were killed in the adjacent cities of Townsville and Thuringowa for humani tarian and animal control reasons. Of these, private veterinary clinic s accounted for 52% of the dogs and 57% of the cats, while an animal s helter handled the rest. The dogs at the animal shelter were significa ntly younger than those at the veterinary clinics (mean ages of 4.7 ye ars acid 1.4 years respectively), a greater percentage were sexually e ntire and a greater percentage were killed because they were unwanted (73.7%). The shelter disposed of six times more unwanted dogs than the clinics. The age distribution of unwanted dogs at the shelter and the clinics was similar. Cats killed at the shelter were much younger tha n those disposed of at the clinics (0.9 years and 6.3 years respective ly). Estimates of the numbers of dogs and cats disposed of in the citi es of Townsville and Thuringowa for the 12 months from September, 1990 to August, 1991 were 2,533 dogs and 2,385 cats, representing about 12 % of the estimated total population.