Editorial
Front Page - Friday, October 1, 2010
Keeping up to date on pet laws, activities keeps everyone’s tail wagging
Erica Tuggle
Pet licenses are required for any owner wishing to bring their animal to a city park. Licenses for the county can be obtained through the Humane Educational Society and, for the city, through McKamey Animal Care and Adoption Services. The benefit of having an animal altered is not only for a free license this year, but also for the potential lives that are saved from euthanasia due to overcrowding of shelters.
- Erica Tuggle
Knowledge of the law is always helpful, and this year knowing the law about pet licensing can save pet owners money.
Pet licensing is required each year for all cats and dogs older than three months in the city. Not only does a missing license carry a ticket to city court, but there is an additional fine as well.
Yet, this year pet licenses are easy to take care of, says Karen Walsh, the executive director of McKamey Animal Care and Adoption Center.
In February, the licensing fee was increased to $50, but for altered animals (those who have been spayed or neutered) the fee is only $10. McKamey will also give an owner 30 days to have their animal altered, and with a certificate of alteration, the license fee will be waived. If $50 for an unaltered animal license seems high, Walsh says there is a purpose for that.
“We are trying to make a significant reduction in the over 6,000 animals that come here each year,” she says.
For those who want to breed their dog, the license fee is minimal compared to what the puppies are sold for, and in all fairness, purebred animals get abandoned just as much as mixed breeds do, she says.
“A lot of people have gone and spent that $50 to get their animal altered [rather] than spend it on a license. If you choose to spend $50 on that license, you will spend that year after year, but if you get animal altered, it is only $10 after that and this year it is free,” she says.
Other pet laws changed in February that citizens should be aware of include the ban of curbside sale of animals. The problem is animals from a curbside sale most likely have never been to a veterinarian and will add to the animal overpopulation issue, Walsh says.
The adoption fee at McKamey includes altering, age appropriate vaccinations, medical check-up, behavior assessment, microchip, flea preventative, deworming, FeLV test for cats and heartworm test for dogs - all things that would cost a couple hundred dollars if a curbside animal was taken in on their own, Walsh says.
Besides curbside selling of animals, other pet laws frequently broken are dogs riding unsecured in the back of pick-up trucks, pets in city parks without a license and the anti-tethering law, Walsh says. This law states that a dog cannot be chained between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. and cannot be on a chain for more than 12 hours a day. Not only is this unhealthy for the dog, she says, but it makes them unsocial and endangers the community when these dogs lash out.
“If your grandfather and father did it, then you don’t even think about it. People don’t realize all the things that are wrong with it,” she says. “[Dogs] were meant to be our companions, not our yard ornaments.”
People also don’t realize that a rabies tag is not a city license, and they must come to McKamey or use the mail brochure to get a city license. If they live in the county, they may obtain a county license from the Humane Educational Society.
Because Chattanooga is a river community, picking up a dog’s droppings is an imperative law so that the feces do not wash out into the river and become part of our drinking water, she states.
For those who wish to join the pet owner population that abides by these rules, McKamey is offering opportunities to help the furry friends at their facility during October, which is Adopt A Shelter Dog Month. From Oct. 1 to 15, during weekdays, cats are $5, dogs are $15 and McKamey minis (dogs under 25 pounds) are $50. On weekends, cats are $10, dogs are $25 and minis are $75. Between October 16 and 21, any merchandise in the store is half off for adopters, there will be free cat adoptions, and kittens for $10, dogs for $20 and minis for $50.
Part of the reason the cats are free is because adult cats are the hardest animals to find homes for, and are the number one animal euthanized in this country, Walsh says. By having these specials, they ensure cats find a good home and do not cost the shelter money with every day they spend there, she says.
“We are trying this out this year to see how it works because our most important thing is that they don’t get returned to us, and people are not just showing up because it is free, but because they have decided to give a permanent home to this cat.”
McKamey is also in the middle of the American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals’ challenge that runs from August to the end of October and awards $100,000 to the shelter that wins the competition for highest increase in live release numbers. McKamey is one of 50 shelters across the country, and the only one in Tennessee, chosen to compete. Through this they have started a program called “Collar On,” in which every animal that leaves the shelter has a collar, ID tag and microchip. Groups are visiting neighborhoods, knocking on doors and offering these free ID tags from McKamey. Pet owners can get a pet microchip at the shelter for $25 and the free identification on collars and ID tags while supplies last, Walsh says.
“We wouldn’t exist if everyone’s pet was identified, except for to drive them home,” she says.
The Paws Around the World fundraiser for McKamey will also be going on Oct. 22. Victoria Stillwell, from the Animal Planet show, “It’s Me or the Dog,” will be the celebrity guest and speaker that night and the next day at McKamey during the adoption day and book signing.
For more information on these events, licensing and adoption from McKamey visit www.mckameyanimalcenter.org.
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