North East plans for dog census

NORTH EAST ­­— Deputy Town Clerk Ellen Owens is on a mission. She’s determined to get every dog living in the town of North East vaccinated for rabies and officially licensed. “This is my passion,” she said.That’s why when residents receive their tax bills in the mail, they’ll also receive a notice about the upcoming dog census.“It will save on postage,” she told the Town Board at its meeting on Thursday, Dec. 13, adding the terms of the census. “They’ve got to come in [to Town Hall] and license their dogs, and if they don’t we will follow up with a court ticket and a fine.”Owens said she is “borrowing” the policy from the neighboring town of Stanford, which she said had great success with its recent dog census.The deputy town clerk also acknowledged that sometimes licensing one’s dog can get pricey, especially because it requires the canine be up-to-date on his or her rabies vaccine. Often times when one takes his or her pet to a veterinarian for a rabies vaccine, the pet also has to be up-to-date on other vaccines and may even require an annual visit. That’s where a simple visit could run into the hundreds of dollars.“To help offset the cost, in March we’re going to be having a free rabies clinic,” Owens said, offering a solution to those hesitant to pay out-of-pocket fees to their veterinarians at this point in time. “So people know if that’s what’s holding them back it doesn’t matter anymore.”She added that the free rabies clinics have been very popular in the past.“We did one three years ago and I thought we would have about 10 dogs or so,” she said, stating the clinic was, and will again be, at the firehouse on Century Boulevard. “Three-hundred dogs showed up.”Owens told the Town Board she was willing to bet there were more than 300 dogs in the town of North East.“There are people who don’t know you have to license your dog,” she said. “This is how we make sure they get their rabies shot, and that is a public heath issue.”The board agreed, and then unanimously approved Owens’ request to include notice of the dog census in the town’s outgoing tax bills.