Education and Incentive 

Council promotes responsible pet ownership and runs the following programmes from time to time:

1. Subsidised de-sexing, microchipping and vaccination program for low income pet owners. 
So far, in the four years the program has been running, Council has assisted in vaccinating, de-sexing and micro-chipping hundreds of animals.

2. Community Engagement.
Council’s Regulations Officer engages with the local community with a view to encouraging responsible attitudes towards all animals.  The Regulations Officer is available to provide presentations to local school, community groups and other community organisations upon request.

The above programs assist Council in controlling the number of abandoned, unwanted, and stray pets which end up being left at Councils animal shelters or in public places.

Micro Chipping and Registration

The Companion Animals Act 1998, which came into effect in September 1998, replacing the Dog Act 1966, is designed to benefit pets, their owners and the wider community.  Numerous changes were recently made to the Companion Animals Act 1998 which came into effect in November 2013

Amongst other things, the Companion Animals Act requires cats and dogs to be identified by microchip by the age of 12 weeks and lifetime registered by the age of 6 months. The permanent identification and lifetime registration system, which came into effect on 1 July 1999, greatly assists authorities in returning lost and injured animals to their owners. 

It provides NSW Councils with a more effective means of keeping track of cats and dogs for the benefit of the wider community.