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Speaker 1: Now the Catherine Town Council, they've announced that a dog

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Speaker 1: registration amnesty is going to be happening in a bid

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Speaker 1: to help reunite lost pets with their owners. Now joining

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Speaker 1: me on the line to tell us a bit more

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Speaker 1: about this is the council's CEO, Ingrid stone Hill. Good

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Speaker 1: morning to you, Ingrid.

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Speaker 2: Hi Katie, how are you going.

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Speaker 1: Ye're really good, lovely to have you on the show.

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Speaker 1: Tell me what sparked this amnesty.

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Speaker 2: I think it's probably the problem that a lot of

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Speaker 2: council space and met so many dogs at large. You know,

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Speaker 2: it's a huge impost on the council to be having

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Speaker 2: to chase down lots of dogs that aren't registered. Also

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Speaker 2: a big cost for counsel to have to care for

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Speaker 2: dogs while we try and locate owners when we have

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Speaker 2: to put them in the pound and not ideal for

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Speaker 2: the animals either. And if a dog isn't registered then

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Speaker 2: we don't know where it belongs. Obviously there's a delay

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Speaker 2: and it takes longer and reuniting the dog with its owners.

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Speaker 1: And so has there been It sounds like there's been

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Speaker 1: a bit of a spike as they're in lost dogs.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's quite interesting. I don't we can't sort of

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Speaker 2: put any rhyme nor reason for it. But yes, there

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Speaker 2: has been a lot an increase in dogs at large,

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Speaker 2: and that's really noticeable when you're driving around the streets.

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Speaker 2: And we have checked our database with such a transient community,

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Speaker 2: Kadie for so many reasons, people coming here for work,

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Speaker 2: only here for a year or a few months. And

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Speaker 2: then of course the whole Big Rivers region. We have

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Speaker 2: a lot of communities there and people do travel with

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Speaker 2: their pets because everyone loves their pets, right, and then

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Speaker 2: they arrive into town and we just sign that they

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Speaker 2: start roaming the streets. And you know, it's pretty tough

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Speaker 2: to get rangers these days, or actually anybody involved in

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Speaker 2: council compliance. It's not the easiest job.

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Speaker 1: Well, and I suppose we've got like a workforce shortage

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Speaker 1: as well, that you guys are probably experiencing in Catherine

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Speaker 1: more than most other locations. Then when you look at

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Speaker 1: those specialist kind of compliance roles, it a big.

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Speaker 2: Difficult Yeah, no, it is, and I don't think that

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Speaker 2: we're too different to be honest, for most of regional Australia.

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Speaker 2: But yeah, we've got housing shortages so hard to attract

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Speaker 2: people at the best of times for you know, great jobs,

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Speaker 2: but being a compliance officer in a small regional town

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Speaker 2: isn't a lot of fun. You know, they're not really

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Speaker 2: feeling the love when you're giving out fine as you

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Speaker 2: took it.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I hadn't even thought of it from that perspective,

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Speaker 1: but your spot on it wouldn't be It may not

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Speaker 1: be as fun when you're in a small town. So

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Speaker 1: I mean in terms of you know, in terms of

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Speaker 1: what's happening with the lost animals, but you know, particularly

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Speaker 1: with the lost dogs. Is a counsel then in being

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Speaker 1: forced to sort of be put in a situation at

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Speaker 1: different times where animals are having to be put down

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Speaker 1: due to not being able to reunite them with owners.

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Speaker 2: Yes, and that's actually a really lucky part of my job.

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Speaker 2: But that's some that I do oversee through our bilaws.

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Speaker 2: We have set times where we have to act on

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Speaker 2: those dogs that are left in our pounds. I mean,

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Speaker 2: it's not ideal to have a dog there for a

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Speaker 2: week or two weeks, and we are just very very careful.

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Speaker 2: We don't make those kind of decisions lightly. Some dogs

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Speaker 2: are harmed and by the time they come to us,

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Speaker 2: and if we can't track down the owners, you know,

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Speaker 2: we've got to take them to a VAT and we

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Speaker 2: have to make those aicky decisions, but always in consultation

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Speaker 2: with an appropriate VAT. But look, it's just tragic for everybody.

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Speaker 2: There's a funny side to it too. People love to complain,

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Speaker 2: they love to talk about dogs, and I don't blame them,

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Speaker 2: because you know, being woken by barking dogs is not pleasant.

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Speaker 2: But there is a side to it that is interesting

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Speaker 2: that a lot of people that complain about dogs, we've

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Speaker 2: actually found out don't have their dogs. Were just did either.

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Speaker 2: So we just went, oh my gosh, what do we

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Speaker 2: do with this? People who live in glasshouses, who hey,

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Speaker 2: let's come up with a solution. Let's come up with

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Speaker 2: a solution and say, okay, well, Glossy, come in register

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Speaker 2: your dogs. We're not no judgment here. In fact, thirty

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Speaker 2: three dogs are registered on the first day yesterday.

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Speaker 1: It's awesome.

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Speaker 2: That was pretty cool.

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Speaker 1: So tell us exactly how it's going to work, because

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Speaker 1: I know we do have a lot of people that

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Speaker 1: listen to the show in Catherine, and if they're listening

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Speaker 1: right now, they might be thinking, all right, if I

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Speaker 1: can do this and I'm not going to get in trouble.

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Speaker 1: Might be a good idea.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it probably is a pretty good idea.

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Speaker 2: They just need to pop into council is probably the

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Speaker 2: easiest way to do that. Or they can also go

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Speaker 2: online through our website. But the reality is it will

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Speaker 2: take you ten or ten to fifteen minutes. It cost

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Speaker 2: your thirty two backs if your dog's already de sexed,

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Speaker 2: or seventy two if it's not, No questions asked. It's

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Speaker 2: in your database if the dogs. If you're dog gets lost,

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Speaker 2: we know where to find you to make sure that

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Speaker 2: we can return it straight away, you know, in a

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Speaker 2: manner of an hour or so, rather than having to

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Speaker 2: take it to the pound and have to go through

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Speaker 2: that terrible waiting period. It's just so much easier for

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Speaker 2: someone to take, as I said, ten to fifteen minutes

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Speaker 2: of their day to day or over the next couple

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Speaker 2: of days. We're only doing one hundred, so I'd getting quick.

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Speaker 2: If anyone's listening, if they don't have their dog registered,

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Speaker 2: and we're here to help. We're trying to make it

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Speaker 2: easier for everybody and their pet.

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Speaker 1: So ingrid when you say the hundred. Is that Are

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Speaker 1: there one hundreds that are free or no, it's more

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Speaker 1: that they.

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Speaker 2: Are yep, no, one hundred. The first hundred applications to

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Speaker 2: come and register your dog will be.

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Speaker 1: Free, okay, so get in quick.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, we're on for a third of those already.

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Speaker 1: Yep. But otherwise it is if the dog is dsex,

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Speaker 1: it's thirty three dollars.

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Speaker 2: Did you say thirty two? Yep, yep, thirty two and

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Speaker 2: seventy two if your dog's not de SCTs. And if

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Speaker 2: you compare that, we have a fine that's I think

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Speaker 2: one hundred and eighty five dollars if your dog is

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Speaker 2: not registered and it's court or if it's out and

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Speaker 2: about or somebody's complained, so you know much better obviously

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Speaker 2: to get in quick and get your dog registered. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Well, and that's the thing then if they do get

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Speaker 1: out or anything like that. And the fact of the

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Speaker 1: matter is, like I know, we used to have a

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Speaker 1: dog who she was just a notorious well she is

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Speaker 1: a notorious escape artist, and so every time the gate

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Speaker 1: didn't close, probably she's out the door. Now she's much

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Speaker 1: much older now, so I don't have to worry about

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Speaker 1: her running too far. These days. However, the council were

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Speaker 1: really good about it, you know, like they because if

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Speaker 1: someone phones them in or whatever, very often they'll try

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Speaker 1: and help you out first. The Darwin City Council and

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Speaker 1: I'm assuming Catherine's the same. They'll try and actually help

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Speaker 1: you out first and get your dog home, you know,

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Speaker 1: without sort of making a big fuss at it.

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Speaker 2: Of course, of course, because it's better for you, it's

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Speaker 2: better for us, it's better for how we work together.

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Speaker 2: I'm just sort of having these visions of you, Katie,

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Speaker 2: the amazing running that you are, springing down the road

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Speaker 2: chasing your dog. Maybe we need you with a dog catchule.

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Speaker 1: Maybe you do, but you know what she used to

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Speaker 1: do as well. Then if you tried to go down

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Speaker 1: there with a lead, she'd run away from you, and

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Speaker 1: unless you went back with the you, she wouldn't jump

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Speaker 1: in the car.

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Speaker 2: Oh no, Well, you know we've got lots of hood

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Speaker 2: any dogs down here too. We understand what they're like.

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Speaker 2: Most of us are dog owners ourselves, and it's just

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Speaker 2: so much easier. Oh okay, we know where Katie's dog lets.

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Speaker 2: We'll just pop that back and make sure you're at

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Speaker 2: the gate.

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Speaker 1: Yep, that's exactly right, and then if they are registered,

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Speaker 1: it makes it a lot easier, well look ingrid. I

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Speaker 1: hope that people do take advantage of it, because, you know, absolutely,

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Speaker 1: first and foremost, you want to make sure that those

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Speaker 1: animals and that are owned, that they're not in any

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Speaker 1: situation where you know, where they're being kept in the

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Speaker 1: in the pound for an extended period of time, or

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Speaker 1: god forbid, having to be put down. So it is

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Speaker 1: the best way to try to make sure that those

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Speaker 1: animals are looked after.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, and if we can get the dogs that are

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Speaker 2: well loved, wildcared for, you know, sort of like off

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Speaker 2: the radar, then we can really concentrate on those programs

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Speaker 2: the dogs that are causing us the biggest issues or

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Speaker 2: dangerous and it frees up our time as much as

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Speaker 2: it does everybody else's.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, spot on. Do you have like, do you have

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Speaker 1: a situation where there is many sort of stray dogs

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Speaker 1: around that are causing trouble?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? I think they're always around, and you know, we

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Speaker 2: rely heavily on people to let us know. We've had

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Speaker 2: some you know, shocking situations, as does everybody or every

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Speaker 2: town or city with dogs, and I wish it didn't happen,

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Speaker 2: but it does and we need to minimize that. You know,

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Speaker 2: there's enough stress with living in regional towns without having

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Speaker 2: to give consideration about whether it's safe to walk down

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Speaker 2: or run down the road because of the dogs. We

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Speaker 2: just need to take all that, you know, fear away

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Speaker 2: from people.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, spot on well ingrid Stone Hill. The CEO of

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Speaker 1: Catherine Town Council really appreciate your time this morning. Thanks

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Speaker 1: so much for having a chat with us.

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Speaker 2: Always a pleaser, Katie, thank you