Ashfield District Council has a statutory duty, under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to make adequate arrangements to seize any dog found straying in a public place, or on private land with the land owner's permission, or accept into the Council's care, a stray dog found by a member of the public. The Council has a responsibility to notify the owner and to care for the stray dog for a period of at least 7 days in order to allow the owner to come forward and reclaim their dog. ADC has historically provided a service to collect stray dogs.

Each year the ADC receives or collects approximately 350 stray dogs from across the district. The majority of these strays have been microchipped which in most cases enables us to very quickly identify the owners and to immediately return the dogs to them. Where we cannot identify the owner the dog is taken to a kennel.

Contractors are invited to bid for 1 or more aspects of the stray dog service, these being:

1. Basic Dog Control Service comprising collection of stray dogs only, both during normal working hours and, if possible, out-of-hours, weekends and bank holidays.

2. Enhanced Dog Control Service comprising basic collection service and in addition: promotion of responsible dog ownership (including micro chipping, spaying/neutering and dog welfare), education (including talks to schools, community groups, Ashfield Festival etc.) and enforcement (including patrols across the district and assisting in enforcement of dog-related legislation).