Animal ID tags required in Lawrence County

By Lilly Adkins

BSN Associate Editor

LOUISA — Lawrence County Animal Control announced on its Facebook page Feb. 4 that animal ID tags have been ordered and are available through Jess Perry or the Lawrence County Judge-Executive’s Office.

Perry said that it is a requirement by county ordinance for pet owners to have a tag for their dogs or cats and that all owners will be required to purchase a tag before retrieving any lost animal.

Perry said that having a tag on the animal allows the control officer to contact the owner prior to taking it to the shelter. It also “reduces the resources and labor associated with picking the animal up, making arrangements to house the animal until the owner is located and locating the owner,” Perry said.

“It benefits all parties involved,” Perry said in the announcement. “We love animals and want to do the best job possible and reunite the pets with their owners as quickly as possible.”

Among other things, the ordinance requires that all animals be properly tagged, saying that untagged animals or animals at large may be impounded in an animal shelter and that animals not claimed within seven days shall be eligible for adoption or may be destroyed. If an animal is found at large and its owner can be identified and located, the animal need not be impounded but may instead be taken to the owner, the ordinance says.

The ordinance also states that members of the sheriff’s department or the dog warden is authorized to kill any dangerous animal of any kind when it is necessary for the protection of any person or property. It also requires all dogs to be vaccinated in accordance with KRS 258.015 and licensed in accordance with KRS 258.135. Any animal found in the county not properly vaccinated, licensed or wearing proper identification, or running at large shall “constitute and be declared a nuisance,” the ordinance says, and when a dog or cat bites a person, the owner shall immediately notify the sheriff or county dog warden, who shall order the animal held on the owner’s premises or impounded for a period of two weeks. If at the end of the two weeks a veterinarian is convinced the animal is free of rabies, it shall be released from quarantine.

The present cost of the tags shall be $2.50 per dog or cat tag, $20 for 10 kennel tags, and $25 for 11 or more kennel tags, the ordinance says.

The ordinance, dated as published on Nov. 12, 2004, is available for review in the office of the Lawrence County Judge-Executive’s Office as well as the Lawrence County Clerk’s Office.