Have you found a flyer under your door or in your mailbox that says, “There’s no point in hiding”? Although this sounds like the kind of warning that you would expect from a bookie trying to collect a bad debt, it is in fact a warning from Toronto Animal Services for owners of unlicensed cats or dogs. In the first place I’d like to know how Toronto Animal Services would know if your dog or cat was unlicensed.

Toronto Animal Services is paying 16 college students $20.20/hour to help enforce the licensing of cats and dogs. Until the end of August it is their job to go from house to house distributing information on a city bylaw that requires all cats and dogs be licensed. If you are home when the newly appointed Pet License Police arrived at your door you will be asked to purchase a license if your pet/pets are currently unlicensed or they will leave the paperwork with you for completion at a more convenient time.

The first step in getting you to license your pet/pets is a written warning. Failure to heed the warning will result in fines anywhere from $240 - $5,000. Pet licenses are not terribly expensive, and certainly a better option that getting fined for non-compliance. They range anywhere from $15/year for a cat that has been spayed/neutered to $60/year for a dog that is not spayed/neutered. However there may be some seniors and others on limited incomes who find this a hardship. And for others the blanket application of the bylaw seems ludicrous. There are many indoor cats that never go outdoors in their lifetimes. What would be the purpose for licensing those pets? I’m all for the licensing of pets, but I do not approve of how the City of Toronto is going about it. Nor do I believe that indoor cats should be required to be licensed.