BANGOR, Maine — Attention dog owners: don't forget to renew your four-legged friend's license before the end of this year. According to the Division of Animal and Plant Health for the State of Maine, it is $12 for a new or to renew your pets' license and $7 if your dog is spayed or neutered. Prices may fluctuate depending on the city you live in.
This should be done by December 31, but there is still time until the end of January to renew, but there is a $25 late fee. Dog licenses must be renewed every yeat once the puppy is 6 months.
That fee supports:
- animal control officers
- animal welfare law enforcement
- rabies vaccination compliance
- care for stray animals
- costs to return lost dogs to their owners.
People are also likely to get a pet as the year comes to an end.
The ordinance also requires animals at the Bangor Waterfront to be on a leash at all times.
"You can't protect your dog if they are not on a leash and they are running around, so I prefer him on a leash that way he doesn't run on the road or get run over," Zach Spaulding, a pet owner, said.
"We've had some incidents of dogs being off leash and not totally under the control of the owner so what we are doing on the waterfront here is proposing to change the ordinance that just on the waterfront dogs will have to be on leashes," said Bangor City Councilor, Ben Sprague.
The ordinance runs from the Sea Dog restaurant to Dutton Street in Bangor.
"We don't want people to stop coming outside or letting their dogs run it's just that the Waterfront here in Bangor... there's a lot of people walking...there's a lot more activity...there's kids around..sometimes people are intimidated especially by large dogs off the leash," Sprague said.
Pet owners will still have the ability to let their dog run free and un-leashed in the Bangor City Forest and the Bangor Dog Park. There is also an exception for dog-friendly events at the Waterfront.