Thursday, 04 May 2023 | PNS | DEHRADUN
The Municipal Corporation of Dehradun (MCD) will soon start imposing penalties on pet dog owners for failing to register their pets with the corporation. The corporation will form two teams to check the licenses of the dog owners during the early morning and evening when most of the locals come out with their dogs to take a stroll.
The chief veterinary officer Dr DC Tiwari said that licensing and registration of pet dogs are mandatory but many locals still fail to follow this process in Dehradun. There were nearly 4,000 registrations in the last financial year that included annual renewals of the licenses too. He said that many people do not vaccinate their dogs against rabies but to get the license, they have to get them vaccinated as it is mandatory to attach an anti-rabies vaccination certificate during the licensing process. This process can be easily done on the corporation’s website under the ‘dog licence’ header with a fee of Rs 200. He said that the MCD also recently issued a notice to several residents’ welfare associations and housing societies in the city to get their respective dogs registered as soon as possible.
The corporation stated in the notice that if any pet is found unregistered in the city, the respective owner will be liable to be penalised under provisions of the pet licence by-laws, 2017 and Municipal Corporation Act, 1959, said the Tiwari. He said that the MCD teams will penalise dog owners without licenses from next week while raising awareness among locals as it is not a usual practice for many here. The team will impose a minimum penalty of Rs 500 initially which will increase to at least Rs 5,000 if the dog owners fail to get the licence even after repeated warnings, added Tiwari. The corporation does not have an exact figure of pet dogs in the city as the registrations are usually extremely less compared to the actual figures but they are certainly over 5,000 as per the official sources. The corporation is also planning to take action against dog owners who fail to clean up after their pets defecate in public places.
