The Kozhikode Corporation started the procedure for issuing pet licences on Friday.
Pet owners may collect application forms at the Corporation office. The filled-in application form, along with the identity card of the owner, anti-rabies vaccination certificate of the animal and the animal’s colour photograph should be submitted at the nearest health circle office for obtaining pet licence. Before issuing the licence, health officials will conduct a site inspection to ensure that the applicant has enough facilities for raising an animal.
The civic body had started efforts to implement licensing for pets in 2015. In July 2018, the Corporation drafted a bylaw for the care of pet dogs, coinciding with the opening of the Animal Birth Control Centre at Poolakkadavu. However, the bylaw failed to obtain the approval of the State government. In July 2021, the Kerala High Court issued an order making licences mandatory for all pets. The order came against the backdrop of increasing incidents of mistreatment of animals by owners, abandoning, and absence of care during old age. It included cattle owners such as dairy farmers and others who owned pets such as horses and cats.
Following this, the Kozhikode Corporation passed the bylaw for all pets in September 2021, which however took almost five months to be implemented.
The Corporation has fixed the licence fee for cattle at ₹100 and for dogs and horses at ₹500. The breeder licence for dogs is ₹1,000 and for cats ₹500. Each of the licensed animals gets a microchip costing ₹300, which will be implanted in the body of the animal free of cost at the Corporation’s veterinary hospitals. “This chip is an official record of ownership and helps us track the animal or owner when necessary,” said V.S Sreeshma, Veterinary Officer of the civic body. The licensing of pets makes it easier for the Corporation to get a census of domestic animals in the city, ensure that they are vaccinated and taken care of, and prosecute owners for mistreating them.
However, the Corporation is yet to devise a mechanism to ensure that every pet is licensed. Neither has it established a deadline for the licensing of existing pets in the city. “The deadline will only rush matters. As the licensing procedure progresses, we will come up with a system to ensure that every pet is licensed,” said Dr. Sreeshma.
