Whanganui animal management staff are putting down an average 30 unwanted dogs a month at a cost of $18,000 a year, council regulatory manager Bryan Nicholson says.
The cost of getting a vet to euthanise a dog by lethal injection is about $50. Up until 2014, unwanted dogs from the Whanganui District Council pound were gassed at minimal cost.
Most of the dogs are found wandering and put in the pound, and their owners cannot be found. Others cannot be rehomed for various reasons or are too dangerous to rehome.
It is not often dogs are put down because their owners cannot afford to register them or get them out of the pound.
"People generally find ways of getting a dog back if they really want it. They can pay off the registration fee with automatic payments," Mr Nicholson said.