July 18, 2018
An annual dog inspection program being run by the South Burnett Regional Council is finding between 20 and 30 unregistered dogs every day.
The figures are higher than usual because Council officers are inspecting township areas at random, rather than one town at a time, to defeat the “bush telegraph”.
The surprise results were disclosed by Cr Danita Potter at Council’s July meeting.
Cr Potter said the program, which began on June 4 and will run until August 31, has so far resulted in 481 new dog registrations.
It has also led to 130 dog owners being fined $261 each for keeping unregistered dogs.
Under Queensland law, all dogs kept in township areas are required to be registered each year.
In the South Burnett, this applies to dogs housed in Blackbutt, Brooklands, Crawford, Hivesville, Kingaroy, Kumbia, Maidenwell, Memerambi, Mondure, Murgon, Nanango, Proston, Taabinga, Tingoora, Wondai and Wooroolin.
Dog registration fees range between $155 for an entire dog without a microchip, down to $30 for a desexed, microchipped dog, with discounts for pensioners.
There are currently about 4000 registered dogs in the region.
Council officers say the “churn rate” of dogs that die or whose owners move out of the area is about 1200 per year.
This forces them to undertake regular inspection programs to keep records up to date.
“The State Government makes us do this, but really it’s all about promoting responsible dog ownership,” a Council spokesperson told southburnett.com.au.
“If you desex and microchip your dog, the registration fee is very small and if your dog runs away and we catch it, we can return it to you pretty quickly by scanning the chip.
“But if a dog isn’t microchipped, it gets sent to the RSPCA where it could have to wait for the owner to reclaim it, or get rehomed or euthanased.
“And all of that costs money.”
