Latest / Kendall County News - Shaw Local / Don’t have a rabies tag for your pet? Get ready to pay fines in Kendall County
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- 0:05Speaker 1: Don't have a rabies tag for your pet, get ready
- 0:09to pay fines in Kendall County.
- 0:13Speaker 2: Written by Eric Shelkoff, This article is being read by
- 0:17an automated voice brought to you by Everlet. Those who
- 0:22do not purchase a rabies tag for their dog or
- 0:24cat now face an initial fine of between twenty five
- 0:27and one hundred dollars from Kendall County Animal Control. At
- 0:30the January twentieth Kendall County Board meeting, board members unanimously
- 0:34approved amending the county's code to permit animal Control to
- 0:38issue citation a rabies vaccination and rabies tag is required
- 0:43per Illinois state law for cats and dogs four months
- 0:46of age or older. The twenty five to tw one
- 0:49hundred dollars fine would be for a first offense. Those
- 0:52charged with a third or subsequent offense could face a
- 0:54fine between two hundred and fifty on fifty and five
- 0:57hundred dollars. The registration fees will go toward the Animal
- 1:01Control Fund. All dogs and cats are required to where
- 1:05their rabies tags went off of the owner's property. The
- 1:07tags provide a means of finding the animal's owner if
- 1:10the pet is lost. Traditionally, Animal Control has not issued
- 1:15citations for rabies vaccination or rabi's registration ordinance non compliance.
- 1:19Kendall County Animal Control Director Taylor Cosgrove said in a
- 1:22memo to Kendall County board members, the Sheriff's office currently
- 1:25has this responsibility, However, they are necessarily focused on more
- 1:29significant law enforcement responsibilities. Staff surveyed counties across the state
- 1:34and found that almost every other county animal control department,
- 1:37along with their sheriff's office, is responsible for issuing rabi's
- 1:40non compliant citations. The goal is not to issue citations,
- 1:44but rather to provide an effective enforcement mechanism for compliance,
- 1:48as well as unburdening the Sheriff's office of being entirely
- 1:51responsible for issuing citations, Cosgrove said. She said non compliance
- 1:57is largely driven by pet owners who take their animals
- 2:00out of the county for veterinary services, and those veterinarians
- 2:03are not required to sell Kendall County rabies tags. The
- 2:07owners often do not follow up to purchase their tags.
- 2:11Cosgrove said the total miss revenue was estimated at nearly
- 2:15thirty thousand dollars in twenty twenty five. She said