Noosa Pound and RSPCA overloaded
Tue 23 May 2006
Alexia Rumley, Journalism
More than 20 dogs are surrendered or obtained by the Noosa Council Pound and RSPCA every week.
RSPCA manager, Nicole Cleary, said more than half of the dogs the Noosa Pound and RSPCA received had been surrendered by their owners.
Mrs Cleary said about five dogs a week were lost and were seized by the council and taken to the Noosa Pound.
She said the process of returning the lost dogs to their owners depended on whether the dogs wore collars and the appropriate tags.
“Half of the dogs the Noosa Pound obtains are untagged. If the dogs are wearing a collar and have a council registration tag we can source their owners,” Mrs Cleary said.
Noosa Shire Council’s senior local laws officer, Paul Davison, said the main benefit of dog registration was to assist in re-uniting lost dogs with their owners.
“Dog registration allows us to identify and contact the owner of a dog that was lost and was picked up by council and taken to the pound,” Mr Davidson said.
The Noosa Shire Council’s Local Law of Animal Control on the Noosa Council website stated the registration of a dog in the Noosa Shire was compulsory 14 days from the date the dog was acquired or 14 days from the date the dog was three months old.
Mr Davidson said the Noosa Council door-knocked areas looking for unregistered dogs for three months every year.
“Every year, commencing in October, our shire conducts a door-knock looking for unregistered dogs. Last year we located 535 unregistered dogs and we expect that there was another 200 plus that were in the areas we did not visit,” Mr Davidson said.
He said the high rate of unregistered dogs was because of Noosa’s temporary residents.
“The high rate was due to the area having a high turn over of temporary residents that move in and out of the Noosa Shire,” Mr Davidson said.
He said there are more than 7000 dogs currently registered with the Noosa Council which not only impacted the Noosa pound and RSPCA but also the Noosa Council.
“There are currently 7301 dogs registered in our shire. [This indicates] how many dogs live in our shire and [the] impact on the manpower resources available for dog related complaints,” Mr Davidson said.
He said dog registration also assisted in identifying the different breeds of dogs within the Noosa Shire.
“For statistical purposes, dog registration can also assist in identifying the sort of breeds we have in the Shire,” Mr Davidson said.
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Submitted Comments
If people aren't registering their dogs maybe it is a sign that the rules need to be changed and try and work with the public instead of against, so people can do the right thing by the council and be able to afford to register their dog!you guys are just as bad as taxes!
anonymous