If you live in Queensland and you can’t remember whether you ever paid that pesky registration fee when you got your dog, now’s the time to check — because as it turns out, you can lose your licence over it.
Under the Animal Management (Cats & Dogs) Act 2008, anyone who owns a dog that’s more than three months old has to register it with their local council.
For those of you that have a pup, you probably already know this. What a lot of people clearly don’t know is that you also have to pay a small fee when you register your pooch, and you have to renew your registration every year. It’s like a subscription service but for… owning a dog?
The costs of registering a dog vary and depend on a few factors, but if you live in Brisbane City Council, it’s $41.40 for a desexed dog and $118.75 for a non-desexed dog. These numbers get lower if you adopt your dog through an approved facility or if you’re a pensioner though: just $27.60 for a desexed dog.
Unfortunately, a few people missed the memo. And by “a few” I mean a couple thousand.
According to the ABC, more than 2,865 people were fined by Queensland’s State Penalties Enforcement Register (SPER) in the last year alone for not paying their pooch’s registration fee.
Out of those people, 482 actually had their drivers licence suspended because they then also didn’t pay the ensuing fine for not paying the registration fee. Turns out SPER can do that if you don’t pay a fine, RIP.
“Debtors have multiple opportunities to pay their debt before SPER takes enforcement action, which can include suspending a debtor’s driver licence,” a SPER spokesperson said.
“Fines of this nature are issued by councils and if people want to dispute the fine, they should contact their local council directly.”
For some people, that would be a classic case of having a dogshit memory (me), but that’s not always the case!
Sonja Kennedy from the Sunshine Coast told the ABC she missed paying her $24 dog registration fee because she’d moved houses and the letter was sent to the wrong address.
What ensued was a $348 fine, and she ended up having to go on a payment plan to avoid losing her licence.
Look, losing your licence over not paying a dog registration fee does seem a little ridiculous to me. But hey, consider this a PSA and go check if you’ve paid yours ASAP.
