Published on: Sunday, February 19, 2006 |
Kota Kinabalu: Beginning next month, City Hall through its Vector and Animal Control Unit will be conducting a door-to-door search for unlicensed dogs.
Under the Registration of Dog and Control Bylaws 1963, all dogs aged six months and above must be registered with City Hall, failing which the owners can be fined RM100.
Issuing the reminder Saturday was City Hall's Chief Environmental Health Officer, Danny Kok, at the mobile dog registration counter facilitated by the Luyang People Development Leader's (PKR) office at the Sabah Progressive Party's (SAPP) mobile service booth in Foh Sang.
A total of 199 dogs were registered during the exercise conducted from 8am to noon.
Also present were Luyang Assemblywoman Melanie Chia, Luyang PKR Kapitan Benny Quek, Vector and Animal Control Unit head Dennis John and his assistant David Leong.
"Come March 1, we will conduct a door-to-door enforcement of our Registration of Dog and Control Bylaws 1963, and those dog owners who have failed to register their dog(s) would be fined RM100," said Kok. He hoped dog owners in the city would make good use of the next special registration exercise facilitated by the Luyang PKR office, which will be held at the same venue next Saturday.
"Dog owners may also go to our mobile dog registration counter in front of the Pizza Hut outlet in the Gaya Street today (Sunday), also from 8am - noon.
"As for normal work days, they can always go to our office during office hours," he said.
The annual registration fee is only RM10 for bitches and RM5 for male dogs. Kok stressed that City Hall under the leadership of the present Mayor, Datuk Iliyas Ibrahim, is taking the dog registration exercise seriously so as to rid the city of stray dogs.
He explained that such measure was crucial towards safeguarding the public from the threat of stray dogs, which may carry a host of diseases, including rabies.
However, he corrected the misconception among many dog owners that they could always let their dogs roam free, once they have their dogs registered.
"The dog owner can still be fined for letting their dogs loose outside of the house compound. The whole purpose of the dog registration exercise is to compel the dog owner to ensure a proper keeping and control of their dog so as to prevent them from causing a great nuisance to the public, or worse, endangering the lives of motorists," he said.
He said there had been many reports in the past about motorists who lost their lives simply because they tried to avoid stray dogs.
Besides this, the carcasses of dogs often caused a great public nuisance, he said.
Other common public nuisances associated with stray dogs were litter caused by their droppings or rummaging of the garbage in search for food, apart from attacking passers-by.
Towards this end, Chia, who is also Assistant Resource Development and IT Minister, was happy with the overwhelming response from dog owners in Luyang and its vicinity.
She hoped more dog owners would come out to register their dogs next Saturday.
"Let's play our part as responsible citizens, especially if we are dog owners, and be considerate to our neighbours who may have a different opinion about dogs," she said.
Besides this, she also commended City Hall, the Mayor especially, for facilitating the provision of the mobile dog registration service to better reach out to dog owners in the city.
"Ï am really glad that our present Mayor has been very forthcoming towards proposals that make a difference in better serving the ratepayers," she said.
