The Pecan Park Eagle

“Hi! I’m Morti McCurdy – I’m an un-neutered male Shih Tzu canine, 11 years old and quietly living out my life as an indoor guy. Now the City of Houston plans to tax my family $60 a year because they have decided that little dogs like me are a threat to throwing the local canine population into chaos because I still have the equipment to make that happen. – Tell me. Do I look like a threat to you? – Or is it more that little guys like me are easy tax money?”

Morti pretty much said it all.

If you are a dog owner living in the City of Houston and you choose to do the caring and responsible thing of making sure that your canine has his or hr rabies and other important vaccines, your vet is required to report your act of responsibility to the City of Houston Pet Licensing Department and to inform them also as to whether or not your animal has been spayed or neutered,

If you have not had your animal properly altered, it will now cost you $60 per year to license your dos, as opposed to the $10 annual fee that existed for years. There is no exception based on age, size, or a life style that protects your pet from random free range contact with other canines.

Our dog Morti was never altered because we had hoped when he was younger that we could allow him to help breed us a pup for the future. That never happened, but we then didn’t want to put him through a procedure as he got older.

We feel that we should not have to be forced or coerced into neutering our Morti at his age – especially because of his size and protected living circumstances. On the other hand, this is one of those “can’t fight City Hall” issues that we also have chosen to not make into our Holy Grail-level expenditure of energy in our wistful search for justice in this world. Too many other serious issues are deserving and getting our attention to add this one to the agenda.

So, we renewed our pet license at the 600% increase rate – and I write this column, simply as an advisory to the rest of you of what’s coming your way as a Houston dog owner – if you too have a vet services traceable un-neutered canine that the City of Houston can document and bill – as they did us.

Oh yes! – This policy now applies to cats as well! The language on the City’s billing notice reads as follows:

“Important: Pursuant to the City of Houston Code Of Ordinances in Sec. 6-86, no person shall own, keep, possess, or have control over any dog or cat within the city unless such person has a current license for such do or cat.”

The licensing and fee collections are handled by:

City of Houston, BARC – Animal Shelter and Adoptions, 3200 Carr St., Houston, TX 77026

Telephone: 713.229.7300

Website: www.houstonbarc.com

The self-defeating irony here is that, as always, the expanded penalty bill for animal care now passes to the people who are trying to do the right thing for their pets and the community – as it also provides those who have free ranging unaltered animals to look the other way as their “pets” reproduce by their opportunities to answer nature’s call – and for the owners of potentially dangerous dogs with simply another reason to avoid the cost of regulation – and regular rabies vaccinations.

When I mailed our payment yesterday at a suburban post office, I told the postal service to be careful with the envelope getting there because we were paying our dog’s testicle tax.

“His what?” The postman asked in laughter and genuine curiosity.

Once I briefly explained the $60 fee it contained, the postal service worker added, “Ouch! – Well, if that’s how things are going to be, I’m going home tonight to tell my dog that he’s just got to find another place to live!”

There needs to be a way to control the overpopulation of unwanted animals without passing laws that only punish the few who obey them.