Chennai corporation sets ₹25,000 fine for abandoning licenced pets

Chennai: Pet owners who abandon their licenced dogs or cats on roads or in public places will face a fine of ₹25,000 under a Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) penalty initiative henceforth. The measure comes as the civic body continues to receive complaints about pets being left behind despite having registered owners.

By linking each licenced animal to its owner through a microchip, the corporation expects to identify those responsible when a pet is found.

Pet owners living within the city corporation limits are required to obtain a licence under Section 292 of the Urban Local Bodies Act, 1998, and the rules framed in 2023.

Applications can be submitted online. Microchipping is mandatory for pets. The chip carries identifying information, including the owner’s name and address, as well as details of the animal’s anti-rabies vaccination.

The record is also intended to help ensure that pets receive their annual vaccination. It gives the corporation a way to connect an animal found in a public place with the person who registered it.

GCC launched its online pet licencing system in October last year. By July this year, it had issued licences to 78,232 pet owners.

The continuing complaints about abandoned licenced animals, however, have prompted the corporation to attach a financial penalty. The ₹25,000 fine applies to owners who leave licenced dogs or cats on roads or in public places.

Registration and microchipping, therefore, carry an ongoing responsibility: The animal remains identifiable after a licence is issued, and its owner can be traced through registration records.

The corporation’s move places attention on what happens after a pet is licenced. A licence records ownership and vaccination details, but it does not in itself prevent an owner from giving up an animal.

The provision aims to make owners accountable for animals they leave behind. Complaints of abandonment suggest that some registered pets are still being left in public areas, creating a problem the new fine is meant to address.

For owners, the requirement is straightforward: Obtain the licence, keep the animal’s anti-rabies vaccination current and do not abandon it.

For the corporation, the microchip record provides a means of checking ownership when complaints arise and applying the penalty where an owner is identified.

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