The Wichita Animal Control Advisory Board recently recommended a plan to overhaul pet licensing, including requiring cat owners to license their animals. All dogs five months and older must be licensed with the city. Wichita pet owners might soon be required to license their cats as well as their dogs with the city every year. Mandatory licensing and microchipping are part of a 14-point plan recommended by the Animal Control Advisory Board earlier this month. “If we can get you to microchip your cat, we can not only get it back to you but we can know that it’s been vaccinated,” board President Mike Marlett said. “It’s just safer for your cat. It’s safer for everyone else.” The issue of cat licensing in Wichita “has been controversial for a long, long time,” as City Manager Robert Layton put it. City leaders rejected cat licensing proposals in 1977 and 1982. In interviews with The Eagle, Wichita cat owners expressed a wide range of opinions on the issue.
Source: Local News | Wichita Eagle
