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The Trixie Foundation is gathering names
of people across the state who have purchased dog licenses over the
past two years.
Randy
Skaggs, founder of the nonprofit animal protection group, said he
hopes the information will open the eyes of state legislators that
animal control needs more money. Animal control is funded, in
part, by money from the tags.
The
Trixie Foundation is a no-kill shelter in the Appalachian region of
Kentucky that has about 250 animals. It began in 1990, about a
week after Skaggs' dog, Trixie, died. "We are a care-for-life
facility," he said.
Skaggs
has made open records requests to all 120 counties for the names.
Once he
has the names, Skaggs plans to offer rewards for the names of people
who have unlicensed dogs. He'll offer 50 cents for an
individual, $2 for county officials, $5 for elected state officials
and $10 for the names of representatives of the Kentucky Animal
Control Advisory Board.
Skaggs
will take these names to the county dog warden and ask that the state
law requiring dogs to be licensed be enforced.
"If
that doesn't move them, then we'll get an attorney involved," he said.
The
penalties for not having a dog licensed is a fine of $10 to $100 for
each day of violation. The owner could also be fined $5 to $100
or five to 60 days in jail.
Skaggs
made his requests Dec. 27 and has already heard from several counties
before the new year.
Simpson
County Judge-Executive Jim Henderson said he e-mailed a spreadsheet to
The Trixie Foundation on Tuesday with names.
"(The
project) could prove enlightening," Henderson said.
The
foundation made other requests for records in the past, but the
counties challenged them because of the amount of information
requested, Henderson said.
The
number of dogs licensed in area counties over the fiscal year that
ended June 30 ranges from 18 in Butler County to 596 in Allen County.
Warren County had 491 licenses, Barren County had 457, Logan County
had 389, Simpson County had 383 and Edmonson County had 63.
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According to a national average, there is about one dog for every four
people, said William E. Smith, program coordinator for Kentucky Dog
Law.
Skaggs
said it's surprising how many people don't have licenses for their
dogs. Rural counties have the lowest number of licensed dogs, he
said.
Some
people are beginning to realize that animals are being mistreated in
Kentucky. State law still allows dogs to be euthanized by being
shot, Skaggs said. Around the mid-1990s, the movement against
such actions began gaining momentum, he said.
"Hundreds of people around the state are involved now," he said.
Skaggs
said he isn't trying to cause problems by making the requests for
records.
"I do
this to flush out the truth," he said.
He
wants legislators to see that the counties need more resources for
animal control to protect animals.
The
counties currently get one-third of the $1.50 dog license to spend on
animal control. Elliott County, where Skaggs lives, spent $3,000
on animal control last year, he said.
"It's
deplorable," he said. "It's a joke."
The
foundation has a tie to Bowling Green also. Hill's Pet Nutrition
has donated thousands of pounds of food to the organization since its
beginning, Skaggs said.
"If it
wasn't for them, we would never have gotten this far," he said.
--Dog
licenses are issued through the country and information about where
they can be purchased should be available from county judge-executive
offices. In Warren County, the licenses are sold at the Bowling
Green-Warren County Humane Society and at several local veterinarians'
offices.
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