RSPCA Renews Calls for Dog Licensing

Thu, 02 Sep 2010

The RSPCA has renewed its calls for dog licences to be reintroduced in a new report. The animal welfare charity has published its report – ‘Improving dog ownership: The economic case for dog licensing’ – which calls on the government to adopt a dog licence scheme as part of a dog health and welfare strategy. The publication of the new report comes just a few days after 10 year old Rhianna Kidd suffered a fractured jaw and required emergency surgery following an attack by two Rottweilers .

According to the RSPCA, a pet dog licensing scheme would provide the government with an extra £107.4 million with which to tackle the issue of dog welfare. That figure acknowledges that many pet owners in Britain will fail to buy licenses for their dogs, and is based on a conservative assumption that 50 per cent of dog owners would buy a licence.

The report suggests that the licence fee should be fixed at between £20 and £30 a year, with discounts offered for assistance dogs, while pensioners would also be entitled to a discount.

Dog licensing proposals have so far been met with a mixed response, with vets and pet experts suggesting that the laws would punish responsible dog owners.

Link to this page

Copy and Paste the following HTML into your page.