Animal Control Officer on Portsmouth this Week

Our guest on Portsmouth this Week last Friday was Ariel Fisher, Portsmouth’s Animal Control Officer. We discussed Portsmouth’s leash laws and other regulations regarding pets, including the stipulation that each household can only have up to three pet dogs unless they can get a waiver from Ariel. All pet dogs are required by law to be registered with the Town of Portsmouth, which in turn, requires that they all be vaccinated for rabies. We currently have about 1600 registered dogs in Portsmouth as well as an unknown number of unregistered dogs.

We also discussed the recently created Spay and Neuter program, which subsidizes spaying and neutering of cats and dogs at the Rhode Island Spaying and Neutering Clinic in Warwick. Pets of residents aged 65 and older can be fully subsidized by the Town.

The problem of Coyotes in town is being addressed, in part, by a “trap and track” program designed to locate these animals. Ariel indicated that Coyotes are usually afraid of humans but are natural predator’s of small animals, including cats and small dogs. Residents are urged to not feed coyotes or leave garbage or food outside. Any Coyote or other wild animal that are acting strangely becomes a public safety issue and should be reported to the Portsmouth Police.

The June 12 edition of Portsmouth This Week - A discussion on with the Portsmouth Animal Control Officer, Ariel Fisher can be viewed at:

http://youtu.be/XI13wM2hUTU

It also can be viewed (along with past episodes) via a link at www.portsmouthri.com