Abandoned dogs in a dog pound

I don't know if this is a right place for the theme I will talk about.

I would like to expose the problem of awful treatment of abandoned dogs in world's dog pounds.

As it says in my profile, I'm an volunteer in Croatian's dog pound so I'm very much informed about the way they treat dogs there.
It's horrible: The pound's capacity is 20 cages, each not bigger than 1 square meter. The cages are made of steal, with a steal bottom without holes, and they are washed with gushes of cold water, while the dogs are inside them. The dogs lie in their cages in pools of cold water, urine and feces. Although they hardly move at all, they are skinny due to poor nourishment. The law about the welfare of animals demands that abandoned dogs are put down after 30 days spent in the pound.
If you want to see a footage about Croatian dog pound, click on the link:
http://www.drugaprilika.com/UserDocsImages/dp-1.wmv

Croatia also has a refuge for abandoned dogs, but although it sounds much better, the conditions are rather the same. Though is larger than a dog pound, animals are still being killed after certain period of time. The capacity of the refuge is 150 dogs, which is intolerably little considering the amount of stray dogs in Zagreb, and in comparison to Europeian standards. Until recently, that is, for 4 years, the refuge had no water supply. The dog refuge in Dumovac still has no heating. The water in dogs plates freezes in winter, so they remain thirsty. There is no sanitary system, no shade in the summer, no separation option for placing newcomming dogs in a quarantene, no special section for ill and old dogs, no surgery hall, no puppy accomodation, and no adequate cage placement for grown up dogs. New dogs are constantly added into cages with as much as 10 dogs already. Those new dogs, if weaker or smaller, have no chance of survival in such cages. They either get ripped to death in a fight, or they die of starvation, as the more dominant dogs take all their food, (which there is an obvious lack of anyway, considering how thin the dogs are). When people want to place a stray dog into the refuge, the answer they always get is that the refuge is full, and can not accept any more dogs. The dogs from the refuge are almost never given for addoption. But they do die of illness, or their numbers are reduced in ways captured on this footage:
http://www.drugaprilika.com/UserDocsImages/dp-3.wmv
During the first 6 months of the Dumovac refuge activity, the refuge guards have noted 93 dog deaths. Most of those deaths were filed as «night damage», whatever that means! Since then, the guards in the refuge can keep no track of actions and causes of death of dogs in their refuge. They are misinforming the city authorities by tellng the media that the dogs in the Dumovac refuge are living like in a 4 star hotel!

The problem is also in the men which catch abandoned dogs. This is a video of Zagreb dog pound's dog catchers in action. Apart from brutality, it also displays how many abandoned or lost dogs never make it to the pound, because they end up being strangled to death during the process of catching.
http://www.drugaprilika.com/UserDocsImages/dp-2.wmv
Many of those who survive being caught with a wire around their neck remain traumatised forever, and they panic and resist ever getting a collar put on them again. Some of them (those with shorter fur) have a round bloody wound around their neck, where the skin cracked due to the strong grasp of the wire. The law about the welfare of animals (article 26.2, NN No 19, 1999.) demands that lost animals are caught in such way that «the animals suffer as least pain and suffering as possible». There is no punishment predicted for the violation of that rule. The dog from this footage never made it to the pound.




But I've also been in Czesh dog pound and it was a pleasure suprise. Not only that cages are much bigger and cleaner, but also pound's staff is more merciful to dogs and more polite to people who come to adopt a dog - and that is also very important. Of course, capacity od Czesh dog pound is much bigger than in Croatia.

So, the main meaning of this thread is to present the differences of dog pounds in different countrys. I would like to know how they treat dogs in America, UK and other lands.
Thank you!

 

in the US, not much better... the Humane Society is great, but still there are places like that.
I ask, if you volunteer at one of these places, why don't you do something? Speak out?

 

It's very hard to influence, because they are led by the government. Much money which government give to them for dog food and care is spent for nothing, because they share that money between themselves. It's a big problem because citizens think that the dogs are cared of if so much money is given for dog pounds. That's so untrue, but how you can prove something if that very thing is led by the government? It's like you accuse the government is mafia.
Me and other volunteers can't do much, accept taking care for dogs and in that way alleviate their pain.

 

Spay or neuter.

 

The first thing you can do it spay or neuter your pets. There simply is not enough homes for all of the animals.