County Cracks Down On Unlicensed Dogs
FLINT (WWJ/AP) - Officials in one Michigan county have sent out a small army of enforcers to go door to door to find dogs that don't have a license.
The Genesee County Animal Control Department says the crackdown could raise more than $250,000 in fees this summer. It has 18 full-time workers who will sell licenses on the spot or write tickets.
Tommie Johnson, who coordinates the census, told The Flint Journal that some residents haven't seen someone from the county in decades and many roads "have never been touched before."
County workers will spend the next three months going door to door selling licenses on the spot or writing court-appearance tickets when they find dog owners without licenses. Workers, who travel in pairs, are told to report houses where dogs are inside but no one answers the door.
Tickets can be dismissed if owners produce a rabies certificate and $40 -- four times the usual fee for a dog that has been spayed or neutered -- within 10 days.
The promise of tougher enforcement of the dog licensing requirement comes after more than 1,700 dog owners bought licenses during a two-week amnesty when delinquent fees were waived.
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