Is Your Pet Up to Date?

Pet owners, please take a look at your dog’s license. Is it current? What about his rabies vaccination? That second question goes for cat owners, too. Richard Duddie, supervisor at the Norwalk Animal Control Division is asking area pet owners to be sure their furry family members are in compliance with state law. Dog licenses must be renewed annually and all dogs and cats must receive a rabies shot each year.

“Norwalk is a very big dog town,” said Duddie. Most families take good care of their animals, he said, but there are times when the Animal Control crew has to intervene. At the start of the economic downturn, some area families were unable to provide proper care for their pets and Duddie and his staff helped find alternate homes for the animals. “We’ve got hearts,” he said. “But we want what is best for the animals.”

Animal control officers don’t just tend to dogs and cats. Duddie smiled when he recalled some of the cases his department has addressed over the years. There was the time a dolphin washed up on the beach and the department worked hand-in-hand with the Mystic Aquarium. But there was also the four-foot alligator Duddie came across one day. “We see everything,” he said. “We don’t know what is in peoples’ basements until we get there."

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