A STREET warden team in the Forest has been called "one of the best in the country" for their approach to dealing with stray dogs after picking up an 8th ’Gold Footprint’ award from the RSPCA.

Forest of Dean District Council’s Street Wardens have achieved Gold standard in the RSPCA’s annual PawPrints awards, which celebrates good practice from local authorities in relation to animal welfare.

The team, which includes wardens Chloe Brooks, Gary Evans and Kerry Elvin (pictured with Chip the Shih Tzu and Hugo the Jack Russell), provide a dog warden service and investigate animal welfare concerns across the district.

They also deal with issues such as anti-social behaviour, environmental crime and removing abandoned vehicles.

The RSPCA’s Gold Footprint awards are given to local authorities that provide evidence that they have followed policies and procedures "to a gold standard" for their work with finding and rehoming stray dogs.

The team are one of 29 local authorities to achieve Gold this year.

The council’s Animal Welfare Member Champion, Councillor Nicky Packer, said: "Our Street Wardens do a fantastic job year round and it is great to see this being recognised with an RSPCA award again this year.

"Our work with stray dogs wouldn’t be possible without the help of Sling Kennels and Forest of Dean Dog Rescue, so I just want to say thank you to them as well as to our own team."

Rachel Williams, senior parliamentary adviser for the RSPCA, said: "We’re delighted that Forest of Dean District Council has picked up a gold award for their excellent stray dogs provision. In total, the RSPCA has recognised 29 local authorities across England with a gold stray dog award - highlighting how the service delivered in the Forest of Dean is one of the best in the country, including provision of an out of hours service that meets the requirements of the local community and regular proactive work to encourage responsible pet ownership.