BATAVIA, Ohio – If you love your dog, license it.
That’s the message from Clermont County Commissioners as the season to buy dog licenses launches from Dec. 1, 2015, through Jan. 31, 2016.
Annual licenses cost $16 each; three year licenses can be purchased for $48, and permanent licenses for $160.
Kennel licenses can be purchased for $80, which includes five tags, with $1 for each additional tag.
Under Ohio law, dogs must be licensed each year. “A lost dog can be easily returned to its owner if it is tagged,” said Ed Humphrey, President of the Clermont County Commissioners. “If the dog is not tagged, it is brought to the county’s animal shelter where every effort is made to locate the owner. But how much easier would this be – and more fair to the dog — if every dog in Clermont County had its tag.”
The county animal shelter, managed by Clermont to the Rescue, takes in an average of 71 stray dogs a month, says Director Kimberly Thomas. The great majority are neither licensed nor microchipped, making it much more difficult to get them back to their owners. “From April through November, we were able to reunite 129 dogs with their owners,” Thomas said. “Out of the 129 dogs, only 28 had purchased tags and were up to date.”
If a dog is untagged, the animal shelter will keep it for 72 hours; the dog is then made available for adoption, fostering or rescue. If the dog is tagged, the shelter will keep it for up to 10 days while Clermont to the Rescue staff attempt to contact the owner.
In 2014, Clermont County licensed 18,982 doges and 39 kennels. It collected approximately $330,000 in license fees, which go to support the county’s animal shelter.
Dog owners can buy their licenses at the Clermont County Administration Building, 101 E. Main St., Batavia, from 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Licenses are also available through various vendors from throughout the county, which can be found on the Auditor’s website here.
Here is a page of adoptable dogs from Clermont to the Rescue.
(Photo: A lab recently offered for adoption from Clermont to the Rescue.)
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