September 13, 2018 10.29 am This story is over 67 months old

Police develop fostering scheme for seized dogs

76 dogs were seized last year
Lincolnshire Police is developing a dog 'fostering' scheme to help those seized from hare coursing offenders. Photo: Lincolnshire Police's Rural Crime Newsletter

Lincolnshire Police are developing a dog fostering scheme to help provide a temporary home for hare coursing canines.

Superintendent Phil Vickers said that dogs are normally placed in kennels while prosecutions are pending and this scheme would help provide an alternative solution.

Members of the public will be able to support police by providing a temporary home for the seized animals.

Last month Phil also wrote to 10 people involved in hare coursing in Lincolnshire last year highlighting his intention to make the county a hostile environment for the controversial activity.

Adopting the tactic of seizing dogs was the single greatest contributor in Lincolnshire seeing a 30% reduction in the number of hare coursing incidents last year according to Phil, who is also the force rural crime lead.

Phil said in his newsletter: “Seizing dogs (76 last year) comes at a cost to the force – dogs are placed in kennels while prosecutions are pending – so we are developing a dog ‘fostering’ scheme, where members of the public can support us by providing a temporary home for seized animals – we’ll provide more details as the plan develops.

“The impact of seizing dogs from offenders meant that we saw an increase in the number of police pursuits, where offenders desperate to avoid losing their animals drove off from officers.

“Pursuits are a high- risk activity for all involved, and for the wider community, so not something that we engage in lightly.

“We have been able to put in place measures to prevent such incidents, and to ensure we have the right resources in place where they do occur.”

He added: “I won’t be waiting for hare coursers to come to our county, we will be going out to where offenders live and taking the fight through their front door.”