BY ALEX DADAMU
THE Waste Management Division within the Honiara City Council is looking to implement the Honiara Dogs Ordinance soon.
Senior waste management officer of the Waste Management and Control Division within the Honiara City Council (HCC) Andrew Honi told Environment Media recently in an interview.
This is the first decision to be made by the division since it was established early last year.
Honi said with the decision to enforce the ordinance, dog owners must prepare to purchase a Licence to keep their mutt in Honiara city.
“The charge is usually $50 per dog and if people do not comply, definitely HCC can have all the rights to collect and get rid of the dogs.
“By saying “get rid’ usually the process will be to trap the dog (s) and collect, then poison and then dispose of properly,” Honi explained.
Meanwhile, he said one of their current challenges is to own a vehicle purposely to collect and store the dogs that are being trapped and collected.
“Once the division has in our possession a specific vehicle to do the work, we will start implementing and doing tours in Honiara city,” Honi said.
The Honiara (Dogs) By-Law (the Honiara Dogs Ordinance), was created in June 1965 to legalize the possession of keeping a dog no less than six months old within Honiara City.
The ‘Honiara (Dogs) Ordinance’ which was passed on the 22nd June 1965 and was gazetted under Legal Notice 108 of 1965 (with further amendments done on the 5th February 2010 and 23rd March 2010) stated that the Council shall impound any dog found without a disc or wondering at large in circumstances in which it constitutes a nuisance or danger to the public or any person.
It was stated in the ‘Honiara (Dogs) Ordinance’ that any person who without lawful authority or lawful excuse releases or injures or attempts to release or injure any dog detained by the Council shall be guilty of an offense and liable to be charged in the Magistrates Court in relations to the offense.