Bandit, the stray dog that evaded animal control for months and was finally caught and adopted by an animal control officer.
Bandit, the stray dog that evaded animal control for months and was finally caught and adopted by an animal control officer.
Whanganui's district council aims to make it easier for owners to get their pooches out of jail, and save lives in the process.
The council has euthanised 201 dogs since July - most due to owners being unable or unwilling to pay impound fees, a report to council's rural communityboard said.
A proposal to go before full council for approval waives a $15 / day sustenance fee for the first week, reducing pound fees.
"We are recommending sustenance fees be a compulsory charge after the seventh day. Last year's fees included a sustenance charge from day one at the pound. This has created an issue where owners do not have the money to release their dog due to the cost," the report said.
The new policy "will assist owners to find the fees applicable to the impounding more quickly which will result in more dogs being uplifted compared to a dog being euthanised".
"It is also fairer as mail is only delivered every three days and there can be a significant delay between postage and delivery."
To offset the loss of income the report proposes to add a penalty to late payments for registration.
A 20 per cent fee would be charged on or after the first day of the second month if registration remains overdue (by September 1). That will cost late paying owners an extra $24 for non-working dogs and $8 for working dogs.
Council has also renegotiated the cost of euthanising a dog from $65 per animal to $59. Vet costs of $13,080 have been spent since July, mainly for euthanising dogs.
Council impounded 434 dogs since July of which 181 were returned to their owners, 201 euthanised and 49 sold.
A separate report showed that as at July last year 5,216 people owned 7,266 dogs in the Whanganui district, including seven guide dogs, 1676 working dogs and 5583 non-working dogs.
Animal control officers received 6845 requests for service last year of which 6437 were dog related.
Barking dog complaints represented the highest number of service requests at 1406 followed by lost and found dogs at 1057.
Throughout the 2015-2016 year council dealt with 219 complaints of dog attacks - 63 against people, 53 against another dog and 99 categorised as other.
Three owners were taken to court and successfully prosecuted.
