Pet friendly council scoops three RSPCA awards

Leeds City Council has been awarded the RSPCA’s prestigious Community Animal Welfare Footprint Award in three categories.

Housing Leeds received the Gold Housing Footprint. The award celebrates housing providers that demonstrate good practice in animal welfare and recognises the council’s clear and positive pet policy along with useful information for tenants, clear enforcement, good partnership working, innovative education work, and more.

The council’s dog wardens were awarded a Bronze award for their commitment to the welfare of stray dogs, their work in re-uniting and rehoming lost dogs and the promotion of responsible dog ownership.

For the second year in a row the council's resilience and emergencies team received the Bronze Contingency Planning Footprint for its new reception centre plan, which includes provision for pets in the case of evacuation or other emergency.

Councillor Debra Coupar, executive member for communities, said:

“The gold award for Housing Leeds recognises the good work that had been done over the last 10 years to develop a robust policy on keeping pets in council homes which puts animal welfare at the heart of our work.

“It’s a great endorsement of our approach to responsible pet ownership and strong partnership working with animal welfare charities including Cats Protection, Dogs Trust, Camp Nibble and the RSPCA.”

Councillor Lucinda Yeadon, executive member for environment and sustainability said:

“Awards in three categories really demonstrates that we can achieve results across the board.

“Pets are like family members so we’ve catered for them even in the case of emergencies.

“Our dog wardens regularly go above and beyond the call of duty tackling strays and have to deal with some difficult welfare cases so this is a great acknowledgement of their dedication and approach."

Rachel Williams, the RSPCA’s Senior Parliamentary Advisor for Local Government, said:

“I'm delighted to see that Leeds City Council has moved from a Bronze to a Gold Housing Footprint this year. This award recognises the hard work of everyone in the housing team at the local authority and their commitment to improve and protect the welfare of the animals in their properties. Only eleven housing providers in England and Wales have been recognised with a Gold this year so the team at Leeds can be rightly proud of their achievement.”

More information about the council’s pet policies, resilience and emergencies team and dog warden service is available on the council's website and Facebook.