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Dog registrations due
Dog owners in the city should have received by
mail last month an application form on which to
register their dogs. These were sent out in two
batches, on 4 June for owners required to register
by 30 June and on 14 June for those who have
until 31 July to register. Any owners who believe
they should have been sent forms but have not
should contact the Council on 941-6643. For the 2002 registration year, Animal Control
is using some new technology to trace dogs that
should be registered but haven’t yet been. The
system combines two products – a job allocation
system (JAS) and visual dispatch mapping (VDM). It allows wireless allocation of jobs to Animal
Control Officers in the field and also plots jobs
on a map of Christchurch and the location of
dogs known to the Council. A refined search will
find all dogs not currently registered, and owners
of these would then expect a friendly knock on
the door to enquire why this is so. As primarily
a dog-owner-pays operation, the provision of a
quality Animal Control service relies on all dog
owners registering their dogs and adopting a
responsible attitude to their care and control. Dog owners who have a good record of
ownership with the Council and who agree to
comply with some strict criteria are able to
apply for Responsible Dog Owner Status which
allows them cheaper registration fees next year. |