By Stephen Cheslik
EAGLE TIMES MANAGING EDITOR
Rumors that the Town of Newport is coming after the residents’ dogs are false says town clerk Lieselle Dufort.
She would appreciate it, however, if you would license your dog.
“Essentially,” she says, “it’s the state law.”
New Hampshire code requires the clerk to maintain a list of dog owners and forward the names of owners who have not licensed their dogs to the Board of Selectmen each year.
Anyone on the list will receive a letter signed by the police department warning them that if they don’t license their dog, they will receive a warrant and face a civil forfeiture.
“The idea of the whole process of civil forfeiture is not seizing the dog. It is an administrative fine,” Dufort said.
“There is no town that is going to go around seizing dogs.”
The warrant, she said, “causes the owner to have to come in, pay the fine and license the dog as part of the process.”
Dog licenses are “not unique to New Hampshire. It is across the country,” she said. “It’s a public safety concern.”
The licenses allow the town clerk to track rabies vaccinations.
If someone is bit, “we can find out specifically who the dog is.”
If the dog breaks the skin, and it is unvaccinated, the person who is bit has to go through rabies shots immediately. If the individual delays treatment until symptoms arise, rabies is nearly always fatal.
Dufort isn’t surprised that many people don’t know the rules.
“In my early 20s, when I became a dog owner, all of a sudden, the police show up at my house. The officer gets out of his vehicle. I’m like, ‘Huh, can I help you?’ “
“He was very nice,” she said. “I had no idea.”
The next day she licensed her dog.
“Now I know,” she said.
That dog licenses are required shouldn’t surprise Newport pet owners as the Clerk’s Office sends out letters and reminders.
“Before we knew there was a hammer, I tried to do positive things. No one likes coming in,” she admits.
In 2015, the town started a Top Dog Contest to encourage licensing. This year, Newport offered prizes that were to be split between three major winners. It didn’t quite work out as expected.
“We had so many prizes, so much dog food, we pulled an additional six winners,” Dufort said.
And for those that go into the office in person – you can pay by phone or online as well – pictures of Newport dogs fill the waiting area.
The new letter to be approved by the Selectment are “a last ditch effort” to get owners to the Town Clerk’s Office before any other administrative fines kick in, Dufort said.
If the process of issuing warrants sounds new to Newport residents, it’s because, for the community, it is.
Dufort only recently learned of the state requirement while attending a meeting of the New Hampshire City and Town Clerks Association, of which she is president.
As part of her duties, she was helping with a training session on dog licenses for new clerks.
“I was there, moving the slides forward,” Dufort said.
“One thing caught in my ear that the whole procedure for bringing the list of delinquent dogs” to the Selectmen.
Recently, there were 1,124 dogs licensed in Newport and a little more than 200 unlicensed dogs.
Unlike her first pet, Dufort’s two dogs, Ebony and Eve, are licensed.
The Board of Selectmen meets on Monday.
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