FAREHAM dog owners who fall foul of the council by letting their animals stray will be hit in the pocket.

Charges are to go up from Wednesday to cover the soaring costs of dealing with the problem.

The £25 statutory charge for the return of a stray dog will be doubled for repeat offenders – where the dog is picked up as a stray more than once in any three-month period.

A return charge of £50 will be made per dog.

If a dog is put in kennels a charge of £48 will be made for the first 24 hours even if the dog is in the kennel for only ten minutes. For any subsequent 24-hour periods the fee is £24. The micro-chipping fee stays at £10.

For a private home check visit in respect of the rehousing of a dog, a fee of £25 will be charged.

The council’s executive member for public protection, Councillor Arthur Mandry, said: “Due to the charges for kennelling, we have had to increase charges to help cover the cost of the service.

“We hope that owners will take more responsibility for the location of their dog, to ensure they do not repeatedly end up as strays.”