Council Ranger Threatens To Fine Rescuer Of Lost Dogs

[SarasMum]

Council ranger threatens to fine rescuer of lost dogs

BY BEN GLOVER 31 Jul, 2010 12:00 AM ONE of Wagga's radio stations may discontinue their lost and found public announcements after heavy-handed action was meted out by council in response to the finding of two dogs.The radio station 2AAA-FM on Thursday helped to have a briefly lost shih-tzu and foxie reunited with their owner but not before a council ranger stepped in, threatening to impose a fine on the finder and imposing $97 in administrative fees to the owner.

The two dogs, owned by the family of Jeannie Nicholls, found their way out of their Best Street residence on Thursday morning after a roller door was left open and wandered the streets for a short time before finding their way to the Railway Street house of Amy Sleaman.

Ms Sleaman's house was formerly lived in by Ms Nicholls' daughter Alisha, so it was a familiar place for the two dogs to go.

Worried about their safety, Ms Sleaman called the dogs into her house and phoned 2AAA FM as well as Star FM to announce her find.

She also informed council in case the dogs' owner started their search at the pound.

By early afternoon public announcements had been made on both radio stations and a Nicholls family member heard it on Star FM.

By the time Ms Nicholls called Ms Sleaman to arrange a pick-up however, the dogs had been removed from her home by a ranger who threatened to fine the good samaritan $500 per dog if she didn't hand them over.

"I told him that I wanted to keep hold of the dogs overnight in case the owner showed up," Ms Sleaman said.

"But he wouldn't have a bar of it and told me it was illegal to have the dogs here because they weren't mine.

"I couldn't believe they would charge me $1000 for trying to do the right thing."

Ms Nicholls collected the dogs from council that afternoon and was charged $97 for the privilege -standard charges according to council's manager environment sustainability and regulatory services Mark Gardiner.

"There are costs involved in animals that go through the shelter (pound) such as impound fees and maintenance fees," he said.

"It's not appropriate that ratepayers pay for animals out roaming."

But why take them to the pound when the lady who found them was clearly doing the right thing?

"We generally wouldn't leave animals at a private house (other than the owner's)," Mr Gardiner said.

"If they escaped again and were run over it wouldn't be a good result for anyone."

But is this another example of the letter of the law taken too far in modern society?

Operations manager of 2AAA FM Chris Jacobson thinks it leaves a sour taste in the mouth.

"The council rangers we've dealt with over the years have always been very good," Mr Jacobson said.

Edited August 1, 2010 by SarasMum

[alpha bet]

See if you give a council officer too much control it goes to their head...... common problem.... Heard of one case last year where a resident used a council cage to trap a cat in her own backyard and as it was a weekend and the local ranger was not responding she took the cat to a neighbouring council pound. Sounds reasonable.... bloody Ranger then charged the resident with Removing the Cat from the Shire..... luckily the judge was reasonable and threw it out with a rap on the knuckles for the Shire.

Any #@__*&head can do a short TAFE course and get a job as a Ranger. Especially in the country shires..... but this does not necessarily give them the brains to be any good.

Imagine if they give the ranger the right to decide to put a dog down immediately.

[Kirty]

Whilst I agree in principal that all lost animals should go to the pound, holding onto them for 24 hours while you try to find their owners is not a big deal and the council is obviously only concerned about the fees they get. Disgusting behaviour by the ranger.

[chriswiddler]

And if for some reason the owners didn't show up within the 72 hour holding time the animals would be put down. Disgusting behaviour by the council but typical of what to expect from ACOs whose qualifications for their job are ... nil!!! Expect more of this as the attacks on dog owners increase with council powers.

[Guest Willow]

That's silly. I have dealt with lost dogs from a number of different shires in WA, and they have all been happy for me to hand over my details, and hold the dog until the owner has been found. One less dog in the pound they have to bother with!!!!

[Dory the Doted One]

Worked in Welfare for a little while...as I was driving to work I picked up a dog running on a busy, peak hour road. Welfare Org recieved dogs wandering all the time from Council and from Members of Public. The dog had a council tag as it's only form of id, so called council. Ranger came and gave me a thorough dressing down for stopping to pick up the dog. What made it more ironic was he had come to collect a couple of dogs that had been dropped in overnight from his same area. Yeah. That works.

It is actually illegal to stop and pick up an uninjured animal, you have to call the council for them to do it. But as we know...they have been known to take their time about these things.

Regardless. I still stop and pick them up. And I'm soooooooooo happy when they are microchipped and can be returned witht he council none the wiser.

[Ravyk]

Worked in Welfare for a little while...as I was driving to work I picked up a dog running on a busy, peak hour road. Welfare Org recieved dogs wandering all the time from Council and from Members of Public. The dog had a council tag as it's only form of id, so called council. Ranger came and gave me a thorough dressing down for stopping to pick up the dog. What made it more ironic was he had come to collect a couple of dogs that had been dropped in overnight from his same area. Yeah. That works.

It is actually illegal to stop and pick up an uninjured animal, you have to call the council for them to do it. But as we know...they have been known to take their time about these things. :D

Regardless. I still stop and pick them up. And I'm soooooooooo happy when they are microchipped and can be returned witht he council none the wiser.

That is so effing stupid!

I have heard of cases where the council and the RSPCA have been called out to help a dog multiple times [in this case the dog was in a drain, injured and the person couldn't get it out]. The dog DIED, because both took their bloody time to do anything about it. :D

[spottychick]

Oh for GODS SAKE!!!! Has the world gone mad?????

[Silvawilow]

Heard of one case last year where a resident used a council cage to trap a cat in her own backyard and as it was a weekend and the local ranger was not responding she took the cat to a neighbouring council pound. Sounds reasonable.... bloody Ranger then charged the resident with Removing the Cat from the Shire

Too bad if the cat actually had an owner (yes likely a irresponsible one for letting cat roam). How many average pet owners would think to call the adjoining muncipalities? Poor form by the woman trapping the cat IMO.

[Trisven13]

Worked in Welfare for a little while...as I was driving to work I picked up a dog running on a busy, peak hour road. Welfare Org recieved dogs wandering all the time from Council and from Members of Public. The dog had a council tag as it's only form of id, so called council. Ranger came and gave me a thorough dressing down for stopping to pick up the dog. What made it more ironic was he had come to collect a couple of dogs that had been dropped in overnight from his same area. Yeah. That works.

It is actually illegal to stop and pick up an uninjured animal, you have to call the council for them to do it. But as we know...they have been known to take their time about these things.

Regardless. I still stop and pick them up. And I'm soooooooooo happy when they are microchipped and can be returned witht he council none the wiser.

The rangers in Albury won't pick up a dog unless you have it contained - they will not come out for a roaming dog. There was a dog that used to get out near me and bailed a number of people up, including one poor bugger who was on the other side of my back fence. I called the rangers then and they knew the dog and its owner and they did nothing. The dog jumped into my yard once and bailed up my husband, they came and picked him up and returned him to his owner. The dog was wandering down the road trailing 20 metres of steel chain and they still didn't pick it up. :D

[Curlybert]

It is actually illegal to stop and pick up an uninjured animal, you have to call the council for them to do it. But as we know...they have been known to take their time about these things.

Regardless. I still stop and pick them up. And I'm soooooooooo happy when they are microchipped and can be returned witht he council none the wiser.

That is utterly extraordinary. I've stopped and picked up dogs wandering on main roads a number of times. If they have no tag I take them to DAS Pound Canberra where I'm volunteer. The rangers then scan for a chip and ring the owner. If the owner agrees, the ranger provides me with their address and I take the dog home. If there is no chip, the dog is impounded. Perhaps I'm only allowed to take them home because I'm a pound volunteer but regardless, DAS rangers are quite cooperative about members of the public bringing in stray dogs. Apart from anything else, it's one less job for them. And far better than some poor sod having to scrape a dog's remains off the road!

I think you're right, Spotty Chick.

[mita]

Well, that ranger & his council ought to be told that Brisbane City Council takes an opposite view. They do everything possible to help people reunite lost dogs they've found, with an owner. Without going thro' the stress....& costs....of impoundment.

The Council Call Centre keeps a data base of Lost & Found Dogs that owners & finders can call in to report info. They even accept Sightings (with date, time, place) on that data base. That means it's often just a matter of the council officer immediately cross-checking....& the owner is switched thro' to the finder (which means no invasion of privacy by giving out phone numbers).

The system works particularly well if the found dog is wearing a current registration tag. Council Call Centre can go straight to the owner's contact phone number from their registration data base. If the owner is not answering, the council officer leaves a message....& will sound out the finder if they're happy & confident to hold the dog until that message gets thro'. Most times, finders seem happy to do so. When they're not....that would be the time, the pound would be called to collect the dog & check for microchip if that's not been done already. If microchipped, then it's also just a case of calling the owner.

We've found a number of lost dogs over the years (we're near nice-smelling shops!). Every time, the council registration tag has led us to the Council Call Centre & a return to the owner within a few hours at the most. The most amazing find was a staffy whose registration led to his owner answering his mobile in Melbourne, where he was on a business trip. Staffy had sneaked off from the person looking after him here in Brisbane. Within the hour, the owner's parents arrived to collect him.

[Christina]

Oh for GODS SAKE!!!! Has the world gone mad?????

Yes & not just in this incident.

Madness hit when common sense became extinct.

Just another power mad idiot.

[Sonic]

It is actually illegal to stop and pick up an uninjured animal, you have to call the council for them to do it. But as we know...they have been known to take their time about these things.

Regardless. I still stop and pick them up. And I'm soooooooooo happy when they are microchipped and can be returned witht he council none the wiser.

I called the local Council not too long ago about a Husky that was wandering and was told that I have to catch and confine the dog before they will send someone out. So much for the Council having a dog catcher, it appears they only have a dog pickeruperer.

[Lyla]

We caught a cattle dog that had been roaming for weeks. It had growled at some kids so we were a bit concerned to leave it wandering. It had a collar, looked well cared for and knew some basics like sit etc. We called the ranger and he asked us to hold onto it as he had been trying to catch the dog for several weeks, and it had bitten 2 adults that they knew of. We tied it up, gave it a pat etc, and it was perfectly behaved. When the ranger arrived he got OH to put it in his car as he was too scared to pick it up!!

I'm always wary of dogs I don't know, but how can you be a ranger and be scared of them???

[Ceilidh]

And yet when I took in a little dog wandering in the rain on a VERY busy street, I came onto DOL to ask advice on where I should advertise etc i was sounding hounded down for not taking the dog to the pound or calling the ranger as it was illegal to keep a stray! Go figure, damned if you do and damned if you don't.

[Steve]

Look Im sorry but the fact is the law says when you find a dog you cant keep it and try to find its owner - you have to take it to the pound.

the reason for that is that most peopel looking for a their lost dog will make the pound their obvious first port of call.

Not much point it getting stuck into the Ranger. Like it or not its the law and its the Ranger's job to follow that.

We cant have it both ways. We constantly complain because the laws we already have are not being policed and then when they are we have a howl about it.

They didnt fine her - they told her what the law was and what she needed to do.

O.K. I agree the end result is the council get more money for fining the owners if it goes to the pound but these are state wide laws and its not the council or the Ranger in this case who need to be under the gun - in my opinion.

Ceilidh is right - she was beaten up when she came here to tell of how she had done the same thing as this lady .

The laws says it goes to the pound

[Tim'sMum]

And yet when I took in a little dog wandering in the rain on a VERY busy street, I came onto DOL to ask advice on where I should advertise etc i was sounding hounded down for not taking the dog to the pound or calling the ranger as it was illegal to keep a stray! Go figure, damned if you do and damned if you don't.

Hmmmm! So true Ceilidh. At our previous house I was a 'lost dog magnet'. I even found them sheltering under our front verandah, as if to say 'Yep, I know the lady here will look after me!'

Calling the Ranger was always the last resort for me. If they had a tag I would contact the owner straight away. If no tag, and the local Vet was open, then I would walk the dog there to be scanned. If chipped, the Vet would then take over and hold the dog until the owner/s were contacted and picked up the dog. If not chipped they would contact the Ranger to pick it up. A few years ago I found two dogs, both owned by the one person on a Sunday afternoon. I kept ringing the phone number on their tags to no avail...just kept getting message bank. Eventually, as the Vet was closed, I rang the Ranger, who said that the Pound facility (another local Vet) was closed so could I please keep them overnight.

One was a rather nice dog, but the other kept trying to bite me and wasn't keen on my dogs either. It was an interesting night. The Ranger arrived next morning and took the dogs. He rang that afternoon to say he had tracked down their home. The owner was overseas and had left a friend to house-sit and look after the dogs. They had got out when the friend had been out all day.

Dogs get out for all sorts of reasons...tradespeople, even burglars leave gates open. Storms knok down fences. One dog that I found escaped when the cleaner arrived and stupidly left the front door open. With accidents like this, I think it unfair to fine an owner whose dog is normally well contained in adequate fencing...especially when fines are pretty exhorbitant with some Councils, like ours. I know one dog, a beautiful pedigree Staffy, who was stolen from her yard. Someone jemmied open a key locked gate to take her. She was dumped two suburbs away...possibly because she had been desexed not long before and you could see the operation scar quite noticeably. After being dumped she was then hit by a car. The Council ranger picked her up and took her to the local Pound, which is also a Vet and her owners were contacted via the microchip. Not only did these owners have extensive vet bills to have her badly broken leg pinned....but they were FINED for 'allowing the dog to roam', despite a Police report stating that she had been stolen and the gate had been jemmied open.

It may be the law to contact the Council Ranger straight away but there also should be some flexibility....and it should not be just a case of revenue raising by fining the owner, and/or fining the rescuer who may hold the dog briefly until the owner is found.

[WreckitWhippet]

Look Im sorry but the fact is the law says when you find a dog you cant keep it and try to find its owner - you have to take it to the pound.

the reason for that is that most peopel looking for a their lost dog will make the pound their obvious first port of call.

Not much point it getting stuck into the Ranger. Like it or not its the law and its the Ranger's job to follow that.

We cant have it both ways. We constantly complain because the laws we already have are not being policed and then when they are we have a howl about it.

They didnt fine her - they told her what the law was and what she needed to do.

O.K. I agree the end result is the council get more money for fining the owners if it goes to the pound but these are state wide laws and its not the council or the Ranger in this case who need to be under the gun - in my opinion.

Ceilidh is right - she was beaten up when she came here to tell of how she had done the same thing as this lady .

The laws says it goes to the pound

If you find a dog and it doesn't have a contact number on a tag or collar, then you take it to the pound, regardless of what you think of the process. The pound is the first port of call, they also have an environment where there is little to no chance of escaping or injuring someone that is attempting to care for them while they find the owner.

If my dogs escaped, I would prefer that they were taken straight to the pound, as that is where I would go first. I'd pay the fines and thank my lucky stars that they were there and not sitting in someone's back yard, where it makes them harder to locate.

[Sydoo]

I found a small dog in the middle of the road one morning not long after we moved here. Quickly discovered it was post-surgery of some sort, stitches down his abdomen. Hastily doorknocked nearby houses to no avail. I had no idea where the pound was yet so put him in the car and went to a vet just around the corner for help. Receptionist tried to call the number from his chip but no answer then suggested I just put him back on the road where I found him. I thought she was joking but she reiterated that my only options were to put him back on near the road or take him home. I asked about pound/rspca and she said they were closed on weekends and would suggest the same options anyway. No interest in checking on his condition despite obvious recent surgery.

I took the dog home and kept calling - thankfully reunited him with his owners that evening.

I understand why a vet surgery would not take in a wandering dog but was very disappointed in their advice. I certainly wouldn't have been upset to have a ranger explain correct/legal protocol to me afterward as I honestly didn't know what to do....perhaps this has just been blown out of proportion by the radio station involved?