Council is urging dog owners who have still not re-registered their dog to avoid enforcement action and do so before the 31st July penalty deadline.
By law all dogs should have been registered by the end of June, however, Council always gives dog owners an extra month until the end of July to register their dogs before any penalties are imposed.
If people want to pay in person at a Council office the last business day for doing so is Friday 30th July.
Team Leader Compliance, Brenda Ralph, said that with a week to go before penalties are applied there are still 458 dog owners that have yet to re-register their dogs.
“This represents 28% of all registered dog owners who between them have 978 dogs that still need to be re-registered or 20% of all dogs on our database.
From Monday 2nd of August Council’s Compliance Officers will start following-up with dog owners with unregistered dogs including undertaking site visits to their residence if required,” she said.
“Dog owners are responsible for ensuring that they keep council advised of any changes to their dog ownership status such as if a dog has died, they get a new dog, the dog has a new home, or they have changed address, or any other changes.
Any dog owner with an unregistered dog is liable to have their dog impounded and would be liable for additional fees and costs on top of the yearly registration fee.
These could include any impounding fees and late penalties with an additional infringement of $300 per dog if the dog remains unregistered.
Mrs Ralph noted that every council in New Zealand works to the same timetable for dog registrations which is the same year-after-year so any long term dog owner is well aware of the registration requirements.
It is disappointing we always have so many dogs still unregistered at this stage despite writing to each and every dog owner on the database and advertising the registration period widely.
This is especially surprising given Council offers significant financial benefits for dog owners who pay on time and meet other legal and good dog owner obligations,” she said.
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