A Melton West couple’s attempt to hand in a stray dog has led to them being fined by Melton council.
John Micallef said he and his wife came across the chihuahua while visiting a friend in early December last year.
“They had this chihuahua on the property which wasn’t theirs,” Mr Micallef said.
“They wanted to bring it into town to hand into the pound and we volunteered to take the dog with us.
“We got home late, and being a Sunday night we put her in the laundry to sleep.”
Their troubles began when the dog escaped the next morning.
“My wife was upset, so we spent the whole morning looking for her to make sure she wasn’t hit by a car,’’ Mr Micallef said.
“One of the vets we visited said she had been taken to the pound. We went to the pound the next day and found she wasn’t microchipped and that she would be put down. We decided then to keep her so she didn’t have to die.”
The couple paid a fee to have the dog released and registered it with the council.
They didn’t think any more of it until they received a fine of $240 for owning a dog found at large.
“We thought we were doing a good deed and we are getting punished,’’ Mr Micallef said.
He is urging the council to review the fine. “We emailed the council explaining the situation, but have now got a letter saying the fine is overdue.”
Council compliance manager Ian Stewart said records showed the Micallefs came to the pound claiming to be the owners of the dog.
“At no stage did the resident tell council officers that he was not the owner of the dog, or that he was planning to adopt the dog. If he had indicated that he was going to adopt the dog, we would not have been able to release the dog to him.
“Under the legislation, council was within its rights to fine the resident.”
Mr Stewart said the council could look at reviewing the fine if Mr Micallef signed a statutory declaration declaring he did not own the dog at the time.
