VOLUNTEERS at an animal shelter where four healthy dogs were put down have walked out in protest.

Heaven’s Gate at Henley, part of the National Animal Welfare Trust, said the animals destroyed last week had “severe behavioural problems” and no prospect of being rehomed, and that putting them down “was the kindest action to take”.

However, the Mercury has spoken to one volunteer who quit the centre last month after learning the dogs – a Jack Russell, an English Bull Terrier, a Lurcher and a Staffordshire Bull Terrier– could be destroyed, and has seen emails from at least two others announcing their intention to leave.

Another volunteer, Debbie Copen, who worked at the centre until last August, when she was asked to leave following a long-running dispute, described the deaths as “unwarranted”.

The NAWT’s ‘About Us’ section on its website says “never to put a healthy animal to sleep remains at the heart of our work”.

In a statement on its website relating to the dogs’ deaths it said: “The four dogs in question had severe behavioural problems and, based on their bite history at the centre, there was no doubt they would bite a person or attack another dog in the home.”

It said the decision to put the dogs down “was reached following a six-month assessment of 14 dogs at the Somerset centre by a panel comprising staff, volunteers and the trust’s animal behaviour experts.”

The statement added: “Once we reach the stage that all options have been explored, there is no prospect of rehoming and the dog is suffering on a daily basis in kennels, in the opinion of NAWT it cannot be regarded as a healthy dog.”

Debbie Copen said volunteers first raised concerns that the dogs could be put down last June after bosses feared for their long-term future.

She believed the dogs had too little interaction with staff and other dogs, which could have affected their behaviour.

She said: “If a dog already has behaviour issues of course they’re going to appear more agitated. “Their destruction wasn’t warranted.”

Debbie was asked to leave Heaven’s Gate last August – the NAWT said in a letter she had been intimidating towards other staff and had tried to photograph some of the employees working with the dogs with behavioural issues.

Debbie said: “I wanted to try to show why these dogs were perhaps playing up.

“There were a number of people who left when they realised these dogs would be put to sleep.”

Another volunteer who wished to remain anonymous had volunteered at the site for over ten years until she left last month.

She said: “I couldn’t stay there knowing what they were going to do to the dogs; it has been a really difficult time for us.”

The NAWT said the Dangerous Dogs Act has given owners and organisations greater responsibilities.

It said on its website: “If we were to re-home aggressive dogs in the community with the full knowledge that they might bite a person/child or attack another dog the prospects of all the other animals waiting to be rehomed would be irreparably damaged.”

The NAWT also said the four dogs put down had been “experiencing such poor quality of life in the kennels with no prospect of rehoming that putting them to sleep was the kindest action to take.”

NAWT chief executive Clare Williams said: “The level of stress the dogs were experiencing was affecting their health and well-being – it’s not kind to expect dogs to live a life of stress in this environment.

“It has been heart-breaking for us all.”