Cr Andrew Antoniolli

It is hard to follow up on a matter with the scant details above. Pls feel free to contact with me so that I can follow-up. My contact details are as follows - 0419 025 407.

Again, in response to those that think 3 days is not enough (and let's understand that means 3 'clear' business days - not weekends or pub hols etc - that means usually about 5 days); Most dogs are collected within 2 days from the time of impoundment. That means that the numbers of dogs collected after that time are very small. What's left (and that can sometimes be a large number) are unclaimed and remain unclaimed. Even if someone is away, if they have done the right thing and had the dog registered and wearing the rego tag, perhaps a collar with added ID on it and also had the dog micro-chipped then there would be little or no chance that the dog would be PTS as all efforts would be made to locate the owner. Some contributors to this forum seem to be making excuses for irresponsible owners. Pls remember in 99.9% of cases any dog that is PTS it is because of an irresponsible owner, not because of some unsympathetic or heartless council or council officer. I will be taking some of the suggestions regarding the best way to contact pounds and RSPCA etc after hours back to my council for further consideration. We should always strive to improve. I thank Shel for her comments about our pound operating hours. Whilst they are generally better than most they are customer and demand driven. That said we are looking at improving that further. I wish to reiterate that I'm not being indignant on the issue of 3 business days for the holding of dogs/cats. Our internal research of our area/city has found that increasing this period will not increase the number of collections of impounded dogs. It will however, drive up costs considerably so that it may force dog rego fees up to an unaffordable level. Whilst I appreciate that many of you are owners of 'entire' dogs for the purpose of breeding, we have a strategy to increase the number of registered desexed dogs by ensuring that our desexed fees are much lower than entire fees and that in the main the fees for entire dogs goes up steeper than desexed dog fees. This is a strategy backed by science that shows that desexed dogs wander/roam less and are less aggressive. Whilst the requirement to have a 2 tiered system of dog rego is enforced by State legislation we have perfected a systme of fees that keeps it affordable for desexed dogs and a reminder to entire dogs that they could save money if the dog was desexed. Ipswich City Council is credited with have one of the best compliance rates for dog registration in Queensland and our fee structure appears to assist that. Again that said we are always striving to improve our service and provide more initiatives. I thank the contributors for their comments and suggestions.

Firstly, allow me to introduce myself. I am a Councillor with Ipswich City Council and my primary portfolio is 'Health & Regulation' which encompasses 'Animal Management'. I have just registered to comment on this forum in order to respond to some of the erroneous matters that it contains and perhaps put some facts out there for comment and feedback. Before doing so, may I say to Steve and his children how upset and sorry I was to hear of your unfortunate loss. I have asked for an internal investigation as to how and what happened in relation to this matter. Feel free to contact me on 0419 025 407 to personally discuss this matter if you feel that it may assist. Now, may I set the record straight on a few matters, primarily for the benefit of other forum readers and contributors. Registration (tag displayed on the dog's collar) and Microchipping is the best and most preferred way to ensure that any lost dog finds it's way home to their owners in the quickest possible way. Sadly microchipping is not widespread, however the new State (QLD) legislation will see this identification method grow. More sadly is that, in the main, most dogs that are collected by our animal management officers have no ID at all. In fact most are presumed unregistered. Ipswich City Council, like many other councils holds on to dogs for 3 clear business days (not including weekends, public hols etc). This means that it can be 5 to 6 days before the dog is declared as 'unclaimed' and then becomes the property of the council. Despite popular rumour, council does not destroy all unclaimed dogs. For many years now, Ipswich City Council (ICC) has had a very close working relationship with both the RSPCA and the AWL. Depending on the availability of space at both these shelters, all suitably rehousable dogs are transferred to these welfare agencies. This has dramatically reduced our need to destroy unclaimed dogs. That said, however, there is still the grisly task of destroying some dogs, a task that our officers do not enjoy at all. ICC has been a vocal and outspoken council in relation to the need for the Qld Govt to introduce statewide laws relating to animal management in order to reduce further the destruction of unwanted dogs and cats and to improve the identification and reuniting of pets to their owners. We have consistently provided feedback on how to improve this legislation for the benefit of all concerned. Why don't we hold dogs for longer than 3 business days? There are many reasons for this and all are pragmatic and reasonable. 1. Over 80% of collected dogs are collected within 2 days. 2. If an owner is identified then via agreement we may keep a dog for longer than the 3 day period. 3. Rarely are claims for dogs made after the 3 day period (less than 1%) 4. If a longer period was prescribed for the keeping of animals than the cost of housing these dogs which by the main end up being unclaimed would skyrocket requiring extra sustenance costs, larger kennel facilities. This would increase dog rego fees considerably to the point of unafforable. 5. Dogs held longer than 3 days are usually unregistered and the owner has considered the impoundment of the dog as an inconvenience that they could not be bothered with. A disposable commodity. 6. It is considered that people will not pay more than approx 3 days sustenance costs for an impounded dog, therefore holding for 7+ days would be a pointless exercise. Re livestock holding periods - That is a State Law requirement and is an economic decision. Livestock are generally considered to be an asset of high value and therefore must go through a vigorous procedure where if unclaimed they are auctioned or tendered. This is a different scenario than dogs/cats. There are some serious accusations made in this forum and out of respect I would suggest that if there is any evidence of such claims I will personally report said behaviour and/or individual responsible. ICC's animal management team takes it's duties very seriously and the issue of responsible pet ownership is a high priority. We recognise that it is not the fault of the dog, but the owner/s. We are very proactive in rehousing dogs where possible. We work, as stated above with welfare agancies in this endeavour and we also have our 'Pet of the Week' program where we rehouse a number of pets each week through the local newspaper. This has been successful as we partner with the AWL to have the pets desexed and microchipped before offering to the public. Very importantly we are currently in discussions with the AWL to increase our partnership......Watch this space for more news. In closing I stress that I will be looking into the original matter and hope to get some outcomes for Steve and his family. To all forum members, if you want to dramatically improve your chances of having a lost dog returned you should always have the rego tag on the dogs collar and get your dog microchipped. I look forward to further debate and feedback. Cr Andrew Antoniolli Ipswich City Council