THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 22, 1994 TAG: 9406220468
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANCIE LATOUR, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940622 LENGTH: NORFOLK
It's a matter of disease prevention and public safety, said Assistant City Manager George Crawley, who proposed a new ordinance that would increase the license registration fee for dogs and require a license for cats.
{REST} The City Council is to hold a public hearing on the plan in three weeks.
If Crawley's ordinance is adopted, annual licenses for both dogs and cats will cost $5 for neutered males and spayed females, and $10 for unneutered males and unspayed females. A license for kennels of up to 20 animals would cost $25.
Current dog licenses are $2 for neutered animals and $7 for unneutered ones. Those rates would remain in effect until Jan. 1, 1995.
Dogs that serve as guides for blind or hearing-impaired people would be exempt from the increases.
Crawley estimated that the new fees would increase annual license revenues from $33,000 to about $60,000.
``This should not be seen solely as a revenue issue, but a population-control issue and a safety issue,'' Crawley said, citing an increase in rabies reports in the city in recent years. Before being licensed, dogs and cats would have to be vaccinated against the disease.
Mark Kumpf, senior humane officer at the Police Department's animal protection division, said cats are even more likely than dogs to carry rabies because they roam at night, ``sometimes with raccoons.''
With the feline pets outnumbering man's best friend three to one in Norfolk, Kumpf said, unlicensed cats are ``a very potentially serious problem.''
Though several members of the council expressed doubt over the city's ability to collect the new fees, Assistant Chief of Police Charles L. Cameron, who works with the animal protection division, promised to get tough on irresponsible pet owners.
In addition, he said, courts would be able to take a pet away from its owner to be held or ``disposed of'' by the SPCA.
Crawley countered the skepticism expressed by Councilmen W. Randy Wright and the Rev. Joseph N. Green Jr. by citing a similar cat-licensing law passed in Virginia Beach two years ago.
``It has been effective, and has done very well since its implementation,'' Crawley said.
Wayne Price, director of the local SPCA, said every effort would be made to make the licenses easier to obtain.
``Licenses should be available at every pet store, every vet, every possible place that has to do with pets,'' he said.
Dog licenses can be purchased at the treasurer's office, as well as at the SPCA and a few hardware stores in the city. by CNB