Furever Homes manager Loanna Mesman, of Edendale, said recently they tried to fight to re-home a dog which was in the care of the pound.
The owner was in Dunedin with her son at the hospital and she left her pet in the care of a neighbour who did not notice, and told the owner that the dog had gone "for a walk".
"The pound [ICC pound] picked it up. And yeah, they euthanised that dog."
She said the main problem was the council did not have a re-homing programme nor a process in place to publish pictures and information about lost dogs.
"We do the all the re-homing for Southland District Council and Gore District Council, but Invercargill City Council currently does not have a re-homing programme ... So if unclaimed, within seven days the solution is euthanasia.
"They would be one of the few councils that does not advertise any lost or found dogs — it is crazy"
Concerns like these were among the reasons Invercargill man Trev Cameron decided to take matter into his own hands.
He is part of the Facebook group "Missing Lost and Found pets Invercargill and surrounding areas" which after a year and a-half had more than 4600 followers.
With the help of another "animal lover" Lizzie Burgess, they fundraised and bought a pet microchip scanner to help owners find their dogs — without the involvement of the pound.
"I am the biggest animal lover around.
"I go anywhere to scan [a pet] and I am not paid — it is just out of a love for animals.
"I say I get on average three messages or calls a week but it is probably more than that."
He believed his name and number became popular in the community as many "animal lovers" heard the reports of council’s pound allegedly euthanising the dogs and were worried about the future of lost dogs.
He heard a lot of "disturbing" stories about the pound, he said.
Among those was one from a woman whose dog he helped to rescue.
Mr Cameron said the woman told him that as she worked night shifts, her dog sometimes ran away when she was not home.
Then the pound made her an outrageous offer.
"They said since she is working at night, that if she gave them $70 ... they would take the dog and put it to sleep so she didn’t have to look after it."
There were also many stories of people looking for dogs which were at the pound but staff told the owners their dog was not there.
He said that over the weekend, dog owners often needed to wait two or three days to find out if their dog was actually there.
"The big worry I’ve got is, if they go to the pound, are they going to get back home?
"Unless the dog is very, very dangerous or is very, very sick, it should be getting re-homed."
Approached for comment, Invercargill City Council customer and environment group manager Trudie Hurst said in a statement that The Dog Control Act 1996 said if an impounded dog has not been claimed within seven days, it became the property of the council and "it may be sold, destroyed or otherwise disposed of in such manner as the territorial authority thinks fit".
Seven dogs had been destroyed at the Animal Care Facility this year, she said.
"Two for dog aggression, one for people aggression, one for protection/aggression, one failed assessment, and two for attack on a person."
Ms Hurst said the council made every attempt to find the owner, however, if the owner could not be located and the dog was unregistered and not microchipped, this became a challenge.
"There is a need to keep it at the Council’s Animal Care Facility, which will sometimes result in it being there over the weekend."
In situations where an owner was located but there was trouble reuniting them with their dog, the animal control officers had obligation to offer all options to the owners, which included re-homing and euthanasia, she said.
"We make the decision to euthanise dogs only in extenuating circumstances, such as if they pose a danger to public safety or a veterinarian’s medical assessment concludes that is the best course of action."
She confirmed the council did not have a re-homing programme but said it followed an assessment procedure for any animal and if re-homing became an option, the council had four re-homing agencies that they worked with.
About the claims of dogs being kept over the weekend, she said if the owner called the council after hours and reported their dog as lost, staff "can usually confirm if it is being kept in the facility".
She said the council would take on board feedback to improve its animal welfare service.
