Cape Argus (Cape Town)
Lindsay Dentlinger
2 July 2009
Northern suburbs dogs are the city's biggest barkers, while southern suburbs dogs appear to be the best behaved.
Latest City of Cape Town statistics reveal that, on the whole, the city's dogs are more likely to be at their worst behaviour between 8am and midday in weekdays, but good as gold on weekends.
The city's call centre logged more complaints for barking dogs between January and June this year during daylight hours than at night.
The city council has received a flood of about 3 000 animal-related nuisance complaints since January through its call centre and those logged directly with law enforcement officials.
Given this number, the council appears unlikely to back down on a new provision in its draft animal by-law that will make it an offence for dogs to bark continuously for more than six minutes an hour during the day and three minutes an hour at night.
Mayoral committee member for safety and security JP Smith said the measure was aimed at helping the city deal with the hundreds of complaints about barking dogs each month.
If it did not set a measurable barometer, it would make it difficult to determine what constituted a nuisance offence, said Smith.
The city has borrowed the indicator from the Brisbane City Council.
An analysis of the 1 708 of the animal-related complaints the city had received through its official customer complaint call centre since January, revealed that, at least, 775 of the complaints were a result of barking dogs.
More than half of the barking dog complaints, emanated from the northern and western suburbs.
Nearly 25 percent of all dog nuisance incidents received by the city between January and June came from the northern suburbs, followed by the city's eastern areas.
The city's complaint statistics show that dogs appear to quieten down when their masters return home, resulting in a sharp decline in nuisance complaints after 6pm until 7am the next day.
Smith estimates that the city spends about R50 000 a month managing dog-related complaints.
The city is due to advertise the revised bylaw.
The closing date for comment is by the end of August.
Smith said it had taken more than a year to get the by-law into its final stages because it was a "background project" for the city to consolidate existing animal by-laws, rather than a priority.
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