More than 10,000 dogs were found wandering the streets of the North-East last year, a survey reveals.
Carried out by the National Canine Defence League, it shows a 15 per cent increase in the number of strays, with one stray dog for every 364 people in the region. That is well above the national average of one stray dog for every 535 people.
Of the dogs taken in by local authority animal wardens, 2,350 were put to sleep, because their owners could not be traced or new homes could not be found.
A further 3,500 were reunited with their owners and 1,600 were found new homes.
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