CHENNAI: The Tambaram corporation has fined a pet parent a whopping Rs 50,000 after his German Shepherd was spotted on the street outside his house. Corporation officials told TNIE that a fine of this scale was levied because the dog was found roaming on the streets without a muzzle or a leash, and more importantly, it was not registered with the corporation for availing a pet license. They added that though the dog did not bite anyone, passersby were inconvenienced by it.
“The corporation commissioner ordered action over the incident, while the quantum of the fine was decided by the corporation staff who visited the house and evaluated circumstances,” an official said. However, they did not clarify whether any existing guidelines stipulated or limited the fine to be levied in such cases.
Speaking to TNIE, the pet parent, who preferred not to be named, said, “We did not intentionally let the dog out to roam. It escaped when the gate was open. Since it’s a larger dog that should not be confined for long periods, we let it run around within the house compound. Sometimes, people who enter or leave the house forget to close the gate and the dog runs off.”
The man, who runs a cottage industry for food products, said the hefty fine came as a bolt from the blue for him, at a time when he was struggling to arrange school fees for his child. “I understand that the dog should not have been let out, but it was not intentional.
Our pet does not have a history of aggression and the vaccination record is up to date. We are responsible owners and ensure that the dog is always in check even when playing. The dog has been confined ever since a neighbour raised the complaint,” he said.
In previous such cases, the corporation almost always let the owners off with a warning if the dog did not cause any harm. While the civic body has proposed a fine of Rs 100 for unlicensed pets, it is not enforced at present. For stray cattle, the fine was recently hiked from Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 for first-time violations and Rs 15,000 for second-time violations.