Only a third of dogs on the island have been licensed, the Minister of Home Affairs revealed this week.

Walter Roban said that 3,500 canines, or about 35 per cent of the dog population, had been properly licensed, while outlining the budget for the home affairs ministry.

He told the House of Assembly that his ministry planned to boost these numbers to 4,000 licensed dogs by the end of the year.

Mr Roban added that $341,000 was expected to be used for animal-control efforts, which would include streamlining this process.

He said that his department saw this as a “priority” and would put together a public education campaign reminding dog owners of their obligations under the law.

He added that the issuance of dog licences was a complicated task that likely put pet owners off registration.

Mr Roban explained: “I don’t believe that the preponderance of dog owners want to be outside the law. I think it’s just a question of taking time to do it.

“If we make it efficient for them to do it then I think that people will do it because most people want their dogs to be in the best of care and to work within the law.”

He said that his department regularly sent out monthly reminders to dog owners to get their pets relicensed.

He added that two replacement dog wardens would be hired to bring its team back to its full strength of five employees.

An online registration and payment system was entering its final stages and expected to be completed soon, he said.

Mr Roban reminded the house that an ad hoc Canine Advisory Committee, spearheaded by senator Lindsay Simmons-Wilson, had been put together to suggest possible solutions to the problem of unruly and improperly cared-for dogs.

Mr Roban said that solutions, including the ability for dog wardens to tickets owners on sight, could be introduced by the end of the legislative year.

He also stressed: “It’s about the deed and not the breed, so we have to focus our efforts on people and not necessarily just the animals.”

Mr Roban added: “Unfortunately there are some people who should not be dog owners.

“We have to create an approach that understands that and deal with the issues that we find.”

Mr Roban said that the low rate of dog licensing was similar to the previous year, in which 3,105 dogs, or about 29 per cent of the eligible population, was licensed during the 2022-23 period.

But he conceded that, aside from hesitancy, “no procedures have otherwise changed to warrant such a low level of dog licensing”.

He said that the number of eligible dogs licensed in the 2023-24 period was hoped to be as high as 4,500, or 45 per cent.

But he admitted that this prediction was short by 1,000 dogs, or 10 per cent of the eligible population.

Mr Roban said that the forecast this year was to have about 40 per cent – or 4,000 – of eligible dogs licensed by next February.

On top of the licensing, dog wardens received 1,000 complaints and reports of incidents last year, which were responded to after an average of 1.4 days.

Mr Roban said that this was higher than the predicted 900 incidents that were responded to in an average time of 12 hours, but lower than 2022-23 number of 1,102 incidents responded to after an average of 1.4 days.

He expected to see 1,000 incidents responded to this year and hoped to shorten the average response time to one day.

Additionally, $2,000 in revenue is expected to be collected this year from dog reclamation and collection services.

Issuing dog licences is expected to bring in $220,000 in revenue, while BPO dog licences are expected to generate $71,000.

Breeder licences are expected to generate $17,000 and broker’s licences are estimated to bring in $1,000.

No cash is expected to come from guard-dog licences.