ISSUE 11: OUR ANIMAL MANAGEMENT TEAM A qualified, competent, visible and responsive team is required to deliver high standards of service to the community. The size of the municipality makes it difficult to maintain a visible community presence. This may affect public confidence, and encourage some pet owners to disregard local laws and dog control orders. We employ nine people to handle our animal management area, supported by three administration officers, a seasonal officer and a prosecutor. Our animal management officers are required to have either: Certificate IV Animal Control and Compliance Certificate IV in Government (Statutory Compliance) or higher-level qualifications. Each officer completes training in animal handling and prosecutions, including the collection of evidence for court proceedings. All new staff are also required to undertake a corporate induction. We maintain a training register, detailing all the qualifications and training courses completed by each animal management officer. We also promote further training opportunities at annual performance reviews. WHAT WE CURRENTLY DO COMMUNITY VIEWS NEW ACTIONS FOR Handle almost 5000 animal management-related contacts per annum. Collect evidence and prosecute people that have broken the law (there were 12 successful prosecutions in the 2016–17 financial year). Maintain partnerships with internal and external stakeholders, to make sure we can work at capacity. Schedule regular training sessions for team members. Carry out proactive patrols in areas of low compliance. Inform those involved in animal management investigations about the outcome. We rarely see any evidence of animal management officers patrolling or enforcing local laws. You must be seen, and be a positive influence in our communities. Increase our visibility by branding our Animal Management vehicles. Profile our team members within our regular communication channels, including the Park your Pet app, to increase their visibility. Publish implementation outcomes in local media. Schedule our patrols to focus on peak times of animal-related activity.
ISSUE 14: RESPONSIBLE PET OWNERSHIP A central part of our role is to help people understand what responsible pet ownership means. A responsible pet owner is someone who: considers the needs of all users of public space prevents their animal from causing harm or intimidation to others sees to the welfare and social needs of their animal abides by the dog control orders in public places WHAT WE CURRENTLY DO COMMUNITY VIEWS NEW ACTIONS FOR 2018–21 Regulate animal ownership through the issuing of multi- animal permits.* Provide advice, links and resources on responsible pet ownership on our website. Distribute brochures, fact sheets and other material developed by the Department of Economic Development. Hand out ‘well done’ and ‘thank you’ cards to dog owners doing the right thing. * Multi-animal permit Under our Neighbourhood Amenity Local Law 2014, a multiple animal permit is required if you have more than the prescribed number of cats or dogs on your property. Increase community education about responsible pet ownership, associated laws and expectations. Promote responsible pet ownership to school students, to bring about generational change in attitudes towards pet welfare and public safety. Hold educational seminars. Fine irresponsible owners. Give more support to rescue groups and shelters. Include, encourage and instruct pet owners in responsible pet ownership initiatives. Publish more media articles about responsible pet ownership. There are too many irresponsible cat owners. Know the type of pet/dog to buy to suit your lifestyle. Deliver educational talks to high schools and community groups. Exhibit at an increased number of pet and community events in the municipality. Support community groups in the municipality that promote responsible pet ownership. Provide materials on responsible pet ownership during the pet registration process. Deliver a series of educational videos about responsible pet ownership. Run seminars on responsible pet ownership. Investigate using a ranger character costume to promote responsible pet ownership to children. Connect residents to puppy schools and pet services. Provide advice to the community on alternatives to surrendering their pets. Promote rescue cats by offering subsidised registration Run initiatives to recognise and celebrate responsible pet ownership and the human-animal bond. Identify opportunities for funding and partnerships to deliver affordable responsible pet ownership programs for the community. Provide responsible pet ownership and education materials in multiple languages. Link residents to dog training providers and resources. Support pet-friendly business initiatives. minimises nuisance to others and the environment has an animal that is desexed, microchipped and registered secures their property to contain their pet.