The booth set up by the Animal Control Centre generated a lot of interest at the QEH yesterday. Paul Bellamy (right), Assistant Animal Control Officer, was on hand to answer a range of questions posed by those visiting the booth.
Licensing of dogs an easy process
THE procedure for licensing dogs in Barbados is quite simple.
Paul Bellamy, Assistant Animal Control Officer with the Animal Control Centre of the Ministry of Health, acknowledged the above whilst encouraging more persons in Barbados to come forward and ensure that they comply with the law, by registering and licensing their dogs.
Bellamy explained the simple process as the Animal Control Centre set up a booth inside the Queen Elizabeth Hospital on Monday, as part of its outreach programme to target persons who would otherwise find it difficult to get to their three licensing stations at Lazaretto, Black Rock, St. Michael; the Six Roads Polyclinic in St. Philip; or the Maurice Byer Polyclinic, in St. Peter.
“What we would need is the breed of dog, its gender, its age, the colour of it and its name. That’s the basic stuff we need and then with that you will be issued a licence tag, which is like our ID number,” Bellamy said of the licensing process.
“Then there’s a fee structure of $5 for one year, per dog or $10 for three years, per dog,” he added.
“Then we would also collect the owner’s information, in terms of name, address and so on. So we would have the dog tagged and all the information is then linked to the owner’s information, so in case a dog is lost or stolen, they can be reunited. So the licensing process only takes a couple of minutes,” Bellamy stressed.
Acknowledging that while some persons have been faithful in the process of licensing their dogs, he however noted that others would only rush to do so if a negative incident involving dogs surfaced in the press.
He however issued the reminder that, “From the time you get a dog, the law says from six months of age, they must be licensed.”
He was however happy to report that QEH employees, as well as members of the general public, were showing a very good response to the Animal Control Centre’s outreach efforts that morning and persons were coming forward to initiate the licensing process, as well as to have renewals carried out. (RSM)