Derek Neary
Northern News Services

FORT SIMPSON (Jan 29/99) - If every dog has its day, you can be rest assured that Feb. 4, 5 or 6 won't be one of them.

Those are the days that the village of Fort Simpson has set aside to catch and destroy all unlicensed, loose dogs.

"We just want the public to be aware of that," said bylaw officer Bert Tsetso. "We want people to understand that they've got to be responsible."

Village council has discussed the matter a couple of times now and concerns have been raised that children's safety is being jeopardized by the packs of dogs that are running freely about the community, some getting into garbage.

"We want to avoid that," Mayor Norm Prevost said of the situation, which has been drawing an increasing number of complaints from residents. "We absolutely have no room to keep them."

Prevost said the village now has four large traps at its disposal and they will be set up in various locations, including Wild Rose Acres. Any dogs that aren't confined and don't have tags will be taken to the dump and disposed of, he said. Extra help will be hired for those three days to assist Tsetso in the task, he added.

Tsetso said the majority of dogs in the village are unlicensed. It only costs $10 to register a spayed or neutered pet, and $50 for those that aren't fixed.

During the sweep, licensed dogs will be kept and their owners will be contacted. However, fines will be issued -- $25 for a first offence, $50 for a second and $75 for a third. In addition, it will cost $75 per day to cover costs for each day the village has to care for and feed the captured dogs.