Why the council is rolling out cheaper rego for dogs

The Fraser Coast council has made registration fees for pooches cheaper, but there‘s two things you need to have ticked off first.

The Fraser Coast council has made registration fees for pooches cheaper, but there‘s a catch. Picture: Isabella Magee

The council has made registration fees for Fraser Coast pooches cheaper, but there’s a catch.

Discounted registration fees will only apply to microchipped and desexed dogs.

Ally is up for adoption. Picture: Isabella Magee

The idea is to incentivise pet owners to do the right thing via a $30 a year fee,

Councillor Jade Wellings said the registration incentive was about more than just ensuring an easier way for rangers to reunite owners with lost pets.

“Encouraging people to desex their dogs is important because it means there are less unwanted dogs on the Fraser Coast, and we're a council that doesn’t want to have to kill animals,” Ms Wellings said.

Councillor Paul Truscott said this is an initiative he and Councillor Jade Wellings have been working on for about a year.

“The dog registration fees go towards things like creating special places for our animal friends, and the dog off-leash areas are really important … it’s through the registrations, in the annual fees, that we collect that we can provide these facilities to our community.”

The announcement comes a week after a woman tragically died after being mauled by three unregistered dogs in Maryborough.

Councillor Paul Truscott was asked if the cheaper fees had any correlation to the incident.

“The attack that happened is very devastating news and my heart goes out to the family of the victim of the dog attack,” he said.

“This has been something that myself and Councillor Wellings have been particularly working on for close to a year now, we really wanted to strive to make our region one of the best in Queensland for dog registration.

“Over the last four years, we‘ve seen an increase in registrations of about 6,000 dogs – from 14,000 to $20,000 – which is great to see.”

Picture: Isabella Magee

The new fee structure for dog registrations will be in place from October this year.

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