Remedy
Start free

Section 150: Delivery of stray dogs to . . . local authority officer.

Environmental Protection Act 1990 · 1990 c. 43View on legislation.gov.uk

Part VIII: Miscellaneous

Any person (in this section referred to as "the finder") who takes possession of a stray dog shall forthwith either—

return the dog to its owner; or
take the dog—
to the officer of the local authority for the area in which the dog was found; . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

and shall inform the officer of the local authority . . . where the dog was found.

Where a dog has been taken under subsection (1) above to the officer of a local authority, then—

if the finder desires to keep the dog, he shall inform the officer of this fact and shall furnish his name and address and the officer shall, having complied with the procedure (if any) prescribed under subsection (6) below, allow the finder to remove the dog;
if the finder does not desire to keep the dog, the officer shall, unless he has reason to believe it is not a stray, treat it as if it had been seized by him under section 149 above.

Where the finder of a dog keeps the dog by virtue of this section he must keep it for not less than one month.

In Scotland a person who keeps a dog by virtue of this section for a period of two months without its being claimed by the person who has right to it shall at the end of that period become the owner of the dog.

If the finder of a dog fails to comply with the requirements of subsection (1) or (3) above he shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 2 on the standard scale.

The Secretary of State may, by regulations, prescribe the procedure to be followed under subsection (2)(a) above.

In this section "local authority" and "officer" have the same meaning as in section 149 above.

About this text

This legislation text comes from legislation.gov.uk. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. These source and reuse terms cover the legislation text, not Remedy's commentary.

Reuse reviewed 21 August 2026 under Open Government Licence v3.0.