Ordinances, What Other People Have

Posted Wednesday, August 12, 2009, at 5:26 PM

For those of you who would like a little more clarification about how we came up with animal limits, license fee's, that insurance requirement for keeping vicious or potentially vicious dog and many other things. Here it is.

How did we come up with the vicious or potentially vicious dog recommendation? We followed state guidelines. Did you know dangerous dogs are required to be microchipped by a licensed veterinarian? I'd forgotten until I re-read LB-1055.

Now for those license fee's around the state starting from low to high population (approximately, since I don't know population totals for most of these towns/cities).. Curtis for dogs >5 months of age $1.00. Arapahoe dogs >6 months $3.00. Gretna $10 altered, $20 unaltered. Holdredge altered dogs > 3 months of age $5, unaltered $10. Ogallala altered $10, unaltered $25 (2 yr fee). South Souix City $25 altered, $35 unaltered. Beatrice dogs & cat > 6 months- dogs $5 altered, $10 unaltered, cats $3 altered, $5 unaltered. Hastings $7.50 altered, $10 unaltered. Fremont $2 altered, $4 unaltered. Grand Island $5 flat fee. Lincoln dogs altered $17, unaltered $34, elderly owners $14/28 respectively. Lincoln cats $15 altered, $30 unaltered, elderly owners $12/25. Lincoln also has late fees. York had probably the biggest difference in fees with $5 for altered and $25 for unaltered. As you can see, not everybody licenses cats, or I didn't see cats included but I'm not one to always read thoroughly unless there are supernatural creatures involved or it's about some dog disease.

Think of a license as an insurance policy to get home quickly. Here's the scenario. While you're at work your kids open the gate and the dog quickly dashes through then runs at warp speed down the street. You don't find out about this until an hour or more later. Somebody notices a dog running loose and calls the police. Dispatch sends out the animal control officer who catches your dog, reads the individual # on the license tag, punches the number into his handy little dashboard computer and up pops your contact information. Officer So & So can call you to come identify your dog or can return your dog to you your house if your spouse is home.

Animal limits has been a big debate in this town. I have some shocking news. 3 dogs & 3 cats isn't as bad as you think it is. Greensburg Ks has a limit of 3 animals total (dogs and cats), Arapahoe 2 dogs (or so I've heard but I don't have Arapahoe in writing and I'm unsure of cats). Lexington 4 dogs & 4 cats, Ogallala limits to 4 total (dogs and cats), Holdredge 3 dogs & 3 cats, Lincoln 4 cats, if they have more than 5 but less than 16 they can apply for a multi-cat household permit of $30 (they must have each cat licensed, rabies vaccinated and spayed & neutered). I don't have that kind of money and my house isn't big enough for more than the 4 cats I already have (2 would be easier to deal with). Lincoln I can't find a limit on dogs but there is also a multidog household. They are required to have more than 1 acre of land, each dog licensed, rabies vaccinated, a drawing or plan showing the location and dimension of the premises, dog runs or pens and distances to neighboring properties (drawn to scale). I don't know why they require cats to be spayed/neutered in multipet household when they don't require the same with dogs.

I also found some interesting things as I was researching this blog. Breatrice has a nuisance cat law and a cat at large law. The nuisance cat law is as follows: A nuisance cat goes upon any sidewalk, park or private lands or premesis without the permission of the owner of such premises and breaks, bruises, tears up or crushes any lawn, flower bed, plant, shrub, tree or garden whatsoever or deficates theron; habitually cries or howls to the discomfort or the peace and quiet of the residents of any residential neighborhood; or is repeatedly at large. Add to that the destruction of property and the lack of an owner and you have a feral cat problem. I've had cats spray my front door repeatedly (it kept the traveling salesmen away for a while) and numerous cat fights in the middle of the night outside my bedroom window (talk about a rude awakening, luckily my dog isn't one of those that goes crazy when she hears a cat fight).

I hope that helps of you understand.

It seems as though the only people talking about the proposed ordinances are the ones who complain. We need to hear from the people who think this is a good thing, especially the city council. You can contact them either way:

Here's the city council members email addresses and phone numbers:

Mayor Dennis Berry 308-345-6513

dberry@esu15.org

Lonnie Anderson 308-345-4246

landerson@mccooknet.com

Colleen Grant 308-350-2374

colleensue47@mccooknet.com

Aaron Kircher 308-344-9001

kirchermcc04@yahoo.com

Jack Rogers 308-345-3146 (no email)

Here's also:

City Manager Kurt Fritsch 308-345-2022 EXT 225