Persistent Kepayan canine nuisance
Published on: Wednesday, January 13, 2021
By: Sidney Skinner
Some residents along this Kepayan road have taken to placing tree branches on their verge to deter dogs from soiling the grassy area.
A KEPAYAN ratepayer has spoken out about the inconsiderate actions of a dog owner in her area whose pets often wander on the housing road, even when he is not at home.SONI said the canines somehow managed to escape through the fence from the compound where they were kept.
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When they were not tipping over bins to forage for food, she said the dogs could be seen chasing pedestrians and passing cars.
Worst of all, however, was the nuisance created when they defecated in the common areas around the neighbourhood, according to her.
“We have to check the verge, before we leave or return to our homes, to avoid unknowingly stepping on the canines’ stool,” she said.
“All of us are fed up of having to hose down the area outside our front gates whenever our homes are used as a toilet by these animals.”
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Soni said some of her neighbours had taken to piling up cut branches on the road shoulder in a bid to discourage the canines from soiling the grassy area beside their homes.
She also bemoaned the racket which sometimes broke out when the dogs returned to their owner.
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“One of the canines will pick a fight which will lead to them growling and barking at each other.
“The homeowner will sometimes open his gate and let the troublemaker out onto the housing road to defuse the conflict.”
She said this individual did not seem to be bothered that his pets had become a public nuisance.
“Some of us living here have voiced their displeasure about these goings-on to him but, so far, their pleas have fallen on deaf ears.”
Soni said one neighbour had been contacting City Hall on and off about the nuisance posed by the dogs.
“He first reported this problem to the agency since early last year.
The dogs squeeze through their owner’s fence and roam about on this Kepayan road.
“Some time towards the middle of 2019, he saw some government officers talking to the dog owner.
“One of them returned a few days later and placed what looked like a folded piece of paper in his post box.”
Soni provided Hotline with the location of the house where the dogs were being reared. This information was forwarded to City Hall.
A City Hall spokesman refuted the suggestion that the agency was turning a blind eye to the dog woes in the neighbourhood.
He said City Hall’s Animal Control Unit checked on the housing road where the complainant stays several times last year.
This was most recently done on December 16 and 22, according to him.
“During the last inspection, they managed to catch one canine at a housing area nearby,” he said.
“No strays were sighted along the stretch where the complainant lives in either instance.”
The spokesman said the Unit would make periodic inspections of the neighbourhood to ensure that the stretch was kept free of strays.
The spokesman said a check of the agency’s records revealed that the individual only had a licence for two of his canines.
“Our personnel observed that there were more than this number inside the compound.
“The dog owner was asked to have the unlicensed canines relocated from the premises.”
He said the individual had previously been instructed to mend the holes in his fence.
“He was warned in May not to allow his pets to wander about unsupervised on roads and other public places, after our staff found that his dogs were escaping from his compound through the holes in his fence.
“A notice to this affect had been left at his front gate towards the end of that month as he was not at home during the inspection carried out by our staff.”
He said a follow-up inspection was made at the beginning of July, during which time City Hall personnel found that the nuisance posed by the canines still persisted.
“A compound was issued on July 2 and left in his post box.”Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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