Animal management
Councils register the dogs and cats in their municipality. This encourages responsible pet ownership and assists in tracing the owners of stray animals.
Controls often have education programs and incentives to further encourage responsible animal ownership eg schools programs, discount vaccination and desexing vouchers when puppies and kittens are first registered and microchipping days (where a tiny identifying chip in inserted under the animal’s skin).
Through their local laws councils regulate other matters like:
- the keeping of domestic animals (including dogs and cats) on private property (eg banning some animals from residential areas and limiting numbers of others)
- the control of domestic animals in public places (eg dogs to be on a leash, restrictions on when dogs can be on beaches, parks or reserves)
- nuisances and dangers posed by domestic animals (eg barking dogs, dangerous dogs, cleaning up after your dog, impounding of wandering animals, restrictions on where horses are ridden)
The
Domestic (Feral & Nuisance) Animals Act 1994 gives councils the responsibility for registering and controlling dogs and cats, and domestic animal businesses in their municipality.The purpose of this Act is to promote animal welfare, the responsible ownership of dogs and cats and the protection of the environment by providing:
- a scheme to protect the community and the environment from feral and nuisance dogs and cats
- a registration and identification scheme for dogs and cats which recognises and promotes responsible ownership
- the identification and control of dangerous dogs
- a registration scheme for domestic animal businesses which promotes the maintenance of standards of those businesses
- matters related to the boarding of dogs and cats
The best way to find out more detail about services in your local government area is to contact your local council.
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