Todd Hevner, executive director of the SPCA of Luzerne County, holds Diamond, a young adult female pit bull available for adoption, during a news conference as Deputy Agriculture Secretary Fred Strathmeyer, Jr., speaks about the need for increasing the fee for a dog license. Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski is at right.
                                 Bill O’Boyle | Times Leader

Todd Hevner, executive director of the SPCA of Luzerne County, holds Diamond, a young adult female pit bull available for adoption, during a news conference as Deputy Agriculture Secretary Fred Strathmeyer, Jr., speaks about the need for increasing the fee for a dog license. Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski is at right.

Bill O’Boyle | Times Leader

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<p>Diamond, a young adult female pit bull available for adoption at the Luzerne County SPCA.</p>
                                 <p>Bill O’Boyle | Times Leader</p>

Diamond, a young adult female pit bull available for adoption at the Luzerne County SPCA.

Bill O’Boyle | Times Leader

<p>Deputy Agriculture Secretary Fred Strathmeyer, Jr., speaks about the need for increasing the fee for a dog license during a news conference as Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski looks on and Todd Hevner, left, executive director of the SPCA of Luzerne County, holds Diamond, a young adult female pitbull available for adoption.</p>
                                 <p>Bill O’Boyle | Times Leader</p>

Deputy Agriculture Secretary Fred Strathmeyer, Jr., speaks about the need for increasing the fee for a dog license during a news conference as Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski looks on and Todd Hevner, left, executive director of the SPCA of Luzerne County, holds Diamond, a young adult female pitbull available for adoption.

Bill O’Boyle | Times Leader

PLAINS TWP. — A proposed increase in the dog license fee increase is not only long overdue, but an absolute necessity, SPCA of Luzerne County Executive Director Todd Hevner said Thursday.

“It’s necessary for our state to continue to offer and grow the protections and advocacy the abandoned, unwanted and too often abused animals so desperately needed,” Hevner said.

Hevner hosted a news conference Thursday at the Plains Township facility that was attended by state Deputy Agriculture Secretary Fred Strathmeyer, Jr., state Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski and state Department of Agriculture Director of Dog Law Enforcement Kristen Donmoyer.

Under the proposal, a spayed or neutered dog’s license would increase from the current $6.50 to $10 annually and a lifetime license would increase from $31.50 to $49. Also, the age requirement for a license would be lowered from three months to eight weeks — the age when puppies are old enough to be adopted. This, officials said, will encourage more dog owners to get a license.

“This license fee increase is long overdue,” Hevner said. “The lack of adequate funding streams to support the vital work the Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement performs will jeopardize the strides we have made in improving the state of animal welfare in Pennsylvania.”

Hevner brought one of the dogs available for adoption at the SPCA — a young adult, brindle color pit bull named Diamond.

“As a dog parent and shelter professional, I struggle to understand why any responsible dog owner would not vocally support the nominal raise in licensure fee,” Hevner said. “A license not only provides a level of insurance and protections for your animal, should they ever become lost, it also provides funding and oversight to the non-profit kennels that protect the lost, abandoned and abused animals in our community.”

Pashinski, D-Wilkes-Barre, spoke about his plan to restore workable funding to the Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement.

“The Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement was self-sustaining for over 125 years and can be once again by simply adding a penny a day to the cost of a dog license,” Pashinski said. “My HB-526 would do just that. This will save taxpayers millions of dollars, restore the resources necessary for our dog wardens to protect dogs in commercial breeding kennels, protect the public from dangerous dogs, help reunite stray dogs with their families, and much more.”

Strathmeyer said the work of dog wardens to crack down on illegal kennels, investigate dog bites, track and monitor dangerous dogs in Pennsylvania, reunite strays with their owners or find them shelter, is at risk of going away.

“Their work is mostly funded by dog license fees,” Strathmeyer said. “The proceeds from dog license fees, which cost just $6.50 a year, are placed in the Dog Law Restricted Account. This account funds the work of wardens.

But, for 25 years, Strathmeyer said the dog license fee has remained the same.

“While everything from the cost of bread and milk, gas and clothes, has gone up, dog licenses have been $6.50 for 25 years,” he said. “The national average for an annual dog license is $10, the equivalent of a chew toy or two.”

By law, Pennsylvania dog wardens perform a minimum of two unannounced inspections per year on licensed kennels. These inspections provide an opportunity for wardens to ensure proper living conditions and check on the overall well-being of the dogs that live there.

All wardens receive humane society police officer training in order to arm them with the knowledge they need to make cruelty referrals when necessary.

Pashinski noted that Luzerne County has 317,000 residents, 461 dog-related incidents, 52 kennels, 152 dog bites and just one dog warden. Currently, 46 dog wardens cover Pennsylvania’s 67 counties. Ellen Howarth, regional supervisor for the Department of Agriculture, oversees nine dog wardens who cover 14 counties.

“Our wardens work closely with Pennsylvania’s SPCA’s by referring potential cruelty cases to humane society police officers for investigation,” Donmoyer said. “I worry that as our wardens visit kennels less frequently, we’re leaving dogs unprotected and without a voice.”

In previous years, Donmoyer said kennels were visited even more frequently than twice a year by wardens, above and beyond the law, to keep kennel owners in check, ensure they were not violating their license type or class, and to keep a better eye on operations who were bordering violation or problematic.

Now, she said the bureau has been unable to fill mission-critical warden vacancies and they’re barely able keep up with the minimum requirements for inspection since the bureau has run out of money in its restricted fund that is funded by dog license fees.

“This leaves longer periods of time where dogs in kennels go unmonitored and at-risk for serious neglect,” Donmoyer said.

Reach Bill O’Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.