Pet owners face inspections

By Bridget Cook
GREATER Dandenong residents will be visited by council officers next month in an effort to identify all registered and unregistered pets.
A pet amnesty has been established to ensure all residents who register their pets before 1 March will not be penalised.
Owners who fail to register their pets before this date could face a fine of $227 and have their animals impounded.
Registration allows for the easy identification of pet owners, assisting with a quicker return of lost pets.
State legislation requires that all dogs and cats aged three months and over are registered with their local council.
Animals that are being registered for the first time are also required to be micro-chipped, unless they were registered prior to May 2007 and have remained registered.
The council’s regulatory services manager Peter Shelton said “we are working extremely hard to ensure owners are reunited with their lost pets and we are now calling on owners to work equally as responsibly by ensuring their pets are registered.”