Great Pets Start With You

City of Darwin has today launched their Great Pets Start With You campaign.

The campaign aims to promote responsible animal ownership and provide detail on how to be a great pet owner. 

Brochures highlighting responsible pet ownership have been distributed to all Darwin homes and encourage pet owners to take a number of initiatives with their pets.

“Council’s aim is to ensure pets, owners and their neighbours live together safely and harmoniously,” said Lord Mayor Kon Vatskalis.      “We support pet owners by providing a range of services including advice on pet care and animal behaviour, low cost microchipping and behavioural workshops.” 

Council encourages pet owners to register and microchip, desex and provide training and care effectively for their pets.

Executive Manager Leisure and Regulatory Services, Matt Grassmayr believes that these actions help reduce the incidence of pets being a threat, nuisance or harming other animals or people. 

“Council has a responsibility to create a safe environment for the community,” he said “and we take this very seriously.”

“Our new Animal Management policy has introduced a number of significant changes to ensure we achieve this, including reducing the number of animals people can register at one property, changes to address nuisance barking and a relaxation on dog exercise areas.”

Council Ovals are now all declared dog exercise areas, with the exceptions of Gardens One and Nightcliff ovals, as they are regularly used for sporting events.

A series of Animal Education events, workshops and community engagement activities are planned over the coming months to assist and support pet owners become responsible pet owners.  

Some Planned Activities -    Defence Expo/Darwin Show – to promote pet care -    Microchipping and Registration Day – free microchipping -    School Visits – to promote pet care -    Behaviour Workshops – for barking and aggressive behaviour -    Dog Bite Prevention Week  -    Promotion of Dog Walking.