Failing to report the discovery of a stray dog could land you with a £500 fine, Cheshire West and Chester Council (CWaC) have warned.

The authority say that anyone who finds a stray is legally required to report it to the council immediately, or they risk being in breach of the Environmental Protection Act which could result in a penalty.

In the last few months, several people have attempted to re-home strays they have found or that have been handed to them, and this in turn has resulted in dogs not being reunited with their legal owners.

More importantly, the dog’s legal owners will have no way of knowing where their dog is and may suffer considerable emotional distress unsuccessfully trying to find the animal.

Vanessa Griffiths, CWaC's Regulatory Services Manager said: “We are sure that people think they are being helpful by privately re-homing these dogs. However, it is not in the dog’s best interest and also means that people who have lost dogs are confused about how to locate them and can no longer be sure that all found dogs are being reported to the council.

“We want the legal owners of each dog to be reunited with their companion and this can best be achieved by reporting stray dogs to us. Individuals sharing details of found dogs through social media is, of course, helpful but it is imperative that this is in addition to the formal procedure.”

CWaC has been recognised for its work encouraging responsible dog ownership, through the RSPCA Gold Footprint Award for Community Animal Welfare accolade, which it has received for the last three years. The authority has also been praised for its procedures for dealing with stray dogs, in particular reuniting them with their owners at the point of collection.

This is a free of charge service but can only be done if the dog wears a collar and tag with a contact number, or is micro-chipped with up-to-date information .

If a dog can't be reunited immediately, it is transported to a secure kennels and photographs of all found dogs are put onto CWaC’s website as well as social media channels to help identify lost four-legged friends.

The council operates a non-euthanasia policy for dogs that cannot be reunited with their owners and any unclaimed dogs are sent for re-homing.

If you need to report a stray, the following telephone numbers can be used:

Telephone: 0300 123 7038 (option 1) 8am - 7pm, Monday to Friday

Outside of these hours (including weekends and Bank Holidays) - call 0300 123 7035