PET owners in Casey must register their dog or cat with council.
The council is reminding animal owners that under state legislation any dog or cat which is three months of age or older needs to be registered.
Changes to State Government legislation, to come into effect on 11 April 2013, mean that even if a dog is microchipped, if it is not de-sexed the full registration fee will be payable for dogs registered after that date.
City of Casey manager Community Safety Caroline Bell said it was each pet owner’s responsibility to ensure their dog or cat was registered with the council and registration must be paid by 10 April each year.
“If you haven’t yet registered your pet as you’ve moved to Casey recently or have just purchased a new puppy or kitten, you need to contact council,” Ms Bell said.
“Reduced registration fees apply if the animal is desexed, has an obedience certificate issued by a government approved organisation or is over 10 years of age. All pets in Casey need to wear their council-issued registration tag when they’re outside their owner’s property.”
Ms Bell said the council responded to community feedback by introducing BPay as a convenient and easy payment option for animal registration renewal.
“Each animal has a unique BPay reference number, so for owners that have more than one animal, they must complete each payment separately before commencing with the next payment,” Ms Bell said.
City of Casey Mayor Amanda Stapledon said registering dogs and cats was the law, but it also provided a number of additional benefits.
“The most important benefit is that if their pet becomes lost, the unique registration number on their identification tags will help council reunite them with their owners,” Cr Stapledon said.
“Registration fees also help provide a wide range of important pet-related services within the City of Casey.”
Some of the services animal registration fees help provide include animal pound services; daily updating of council’s Lost Pets Register (www.casey.vic.gov.au/lostpets); re-uniting lost pets with their families; collection of lost and wandering pets and a number of animal control measures.
Council will send animal registration renewal notices to Casey’s 40,000 animal owners this March.
For owners with more than one animal, they will receive multiple animal registration renewal notices. If you are a pet owner and you don’t receive your animal registration renewal notice by 29 March, contact council on 9705 5200.
