Letter to the Editor

Dog licenses needed

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Dear Friends,

It has been brought to my attention that the city council is considering to disregard the dog and cat licensing for the city of McCook.

This method of helping control the pet population is long overdue and it would be very sad to let a few complaints disrupt a good cause again. As I recall, the Humane Society tried to get licensing passed a few years ago with no co-operation from the council at that time.

Licensing is one way to identify the lost pets that are brought into the animal shelter but most importantly it is a way to insure that the owners have their pets up-to-date on their rabies shots. It is a state law that all dogs are inoculated with the rabies vaccine to curb the threat of rabies.

McCook has been very lax in enforcing that the dogs are protected with the rabies vaccine in the past. With the dog problems that have occurred recently it is a wonder that someone hasn't contracted rabies by now.

I have had many complaints from the public about the amount that is designated for an animal control officer. Perhaps the stated amount is alarming to the tax payers and it should be presented in a more practical way. As the animal problem isn't a 24 hour/7 day task maybe it could be combined with the police department to relieve the officers of some of the other menial duties that take up their valuable time.

When I tell the people who contact me about an animal complaint to call the police about it, I am often told that they have and nothing is done about it.

This gets frustrating to everyone involved. Even a part time animal control officer would be better than nothing.

Also with a little adjusting to the fees of the licensing the public would be in favor of them. It's been suggested: $10 for an altered dog, $20 for unaltered dog. $5 for altered cat, $10 for unaltered cat. Any person who loves and cares for their pet should be proud to also license them.

These issues probably will not be solved at once, but perhaps in time will. If we had an "EASY" button to push -- maybe we could handle them all at once -- but since we don't have one please bear with us and work them out with us.

Some of the members of the Animal Control committee will be on KICX radio, 96.1 FM, Thursday morning at 8:30 AM before Open Line, discussing some of the items on the ordinance. Listen in and perhaps some of your questions will be answered.

Respectfully,

Marilyn Cuellar

McCook Humane Society member

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  • Why is it that the fee for dogs is higher than the fee for cats ? I think that there seems to be more stray cats running amok than stray dogs .

    Here is something I have not heard one person mention during any of the conversations since this topic has been going on .....people are griping about the fee's (or so it seems) if people can not afford the fees to license their pets where do you suppose their so called "beloved " pets will soon be living should the owner NOT be allowed to care for them any longer ?? My guess they will be living along some street ....so there will just be more strays living on the streets than there is now !!!

    Is there HONESTLY a solution to this ...has everyone honestly sat back ,sat down & looked at this from ALL points ...kinda like looking from the outside in ...I honestly do NOT see that they have .

    -- Posted by ME83 on Wed, Aug 12, 2009, at 5:33 PM
  • I think it's a great idea to have to pay a licensing fee for animals. It helps control the set population for one and it also makes sure that a person who gets an animal really truely wants it. If you can't afford to license an animal how can you afford to feed one. If you can't afford it maybe you shouldn't have one. 10 dollars is not alot for one animal. I know like in Denver and big cities like that it's somewheres like 75 or so.

    -- Posted by april_n_mike on Wed, Aug 12, 2009, at 10:37 PM
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