Animal registration fees
Receiving your registration notices
Payment options
Registration refunds
What does my animal registration contribute towards?
Why register your cat or dog?
Legislation and Local Laws
Animal inspection program
Forms

Animal registration fees

The animal registration fee structure includes incentives for responsible pet owners that have desexed or microchipped their pet.  

A discounted fee applies to pet owners that hold a current pension concession card or Veterans' Affairs Repatriation Health card. Proof is required to ensure you are entitled to the discounted fee.  

For ongoing Pensioner discount, please complete a Pensioner Remission Application Form and return together with copies of the front and back of your pension card by email, post or in person at any Council office.  

Please note, that if Council does not receive a completed Pensioner Remission Application Form, your Annual Animal Renewal Registration will revert to the full fee until the Pension Concession card is sighted by Council. 

For assistance please contact us on (07) 4970 0700.

Fees and charges Pensioners

Receiving your registration notices

Animal registration notices can be received and/or accessed in the following ways:   

1. By default, your notices will be issued via Australia Post as mailed letters
2. For a paperless option, you can sign up to EzyBill and have notices delivered straight to your inbox, rather than your letterbox
3. If you register as a user on Council's Online Services, you will be advised by email when electronic copies of your notices are available online (shortly after being issued by post). Once registered, you can sign in to view your animal registration notices.

Please note, registration to EzyBill and Council’s Online Services can take a couple of days while entered details are matched against our rates database. 

To ensure your notices go to the right place, please ensure you keep your details up to date with Council. 

Registration reminder notices

Council issues reminder notices via post, email and SMS.

Keep your details up to date to ensure you receive the reminders.

Registration refunds

A refund of fifty percent of the registration fee can be requested if your cat or dog is deceased or if you leave the Gladstone Regional Council area within the first six months of the registration period (Prior to May 01). Please complete the Request for refund fee form and submit to Council. If the reason for the refund is due to your pet being deceased, proof by way of a Vet Certificate or Statutory Declaration is required.

No refund applications will be reviewed following May 1 of each calendar year. Refunded monies will only be paid direct to your bank account. No cheques will be issued for refunds. Council does not refund for animal registration fees paid in past registration years.

What does my animal registration contribute towards?

Animal registration provides peace of mind for dog and cat owners. Dog registrations must be renewed annually as per the Animal Management (Cats & Dogs) Act 2008 Queensland and cat registrations must be renewed annually as per the Gladstone Regional Council Local Law No. 2 (Animal Management) 2011. The Animal Management (Cats & Dogs) Act 2008 Queensland does not allow for lifetime dog registration.

All dogs and cats must be microchipped and registered every year and must wear their Council issued registration tag.

The annual registration period is from 1 November to 31 October the following year. New registrations will be valid until 31 October regardless of when the cat or dog is registered.

Benefits of animal registration

Animal owners often ask what the benefits of registering their pet(s) are when microchipping will help a lost pet find their way home. While microchipping greatly assists in reuniting a lost pet with its owner, it does not assist in providing key services and facilities that keep you and your pet safe when out in the community.

These include:

• A 24-hour lost and found service (if the animal is wearing their Council-issued registration tag)
• Two quality-controlled holding facilities for lost pets if we are unable to reunite them with their owner
• A ‘proof of ownership’ identification system
• Qualified and trained staff to attend the investigation and resolution of complaints about dog attacks, barking dogs, patrols of parks, beaches and streets and wandering animal collection and reuniting
• The use of an efficient veterinary service
• Sponsorship of key programs and events that achieve responsible pet ownership outcomes
• Discounted microchipping days
• 12 dog off-leash zones across the Gladstone Region where dogs can run, exercise and socialise leash-free with other dogs and dog park visitors.

To guarantee the reuniting of your pet as quickly as possible please ensure that:

• They are wearing their Council issued registration tag, at all times
• Your contact details and property address are up to date and current with Council
• Your details are up to date with your pet’s microchip company (Council cannot make these changes on your behalf).

Why register your cat or dog?

It is a Queensland Government requirement under the Animal Management (Cats and Dogs) Act 2008, that dogs aged 12 weeks and over must be registered. Under Gladstone Regional Council’s Local Laws, a cat aged 12 weeks and over must be registered.

A dog or cat owner must pay the animal registration renewal before the period of registration for the dog or cat expires, regardless of whether a renewal notice is received. 

Additionally, all dogs and cats born after April 2009 are required to be microchipped and their microchip details updated with Council.

Registering your dog and cat and ensuring their contact details are kept up to date improves their chances of being safely returned to you if they are lost. 

Two dogs and/or two cats can be kept on an allotment in a designated town area.  Approval is required for the keeping of more than two dogs or cats in a designated town area. A Keeping More Than Allowable application is required to be lodged for Council to assess. Approval cannot be given for more than four dogs or more than four cats (over the age of three months) in a designated town area.

Under Council’s Local Laws, only one dog is allowed to be kept on premises that are considered multi-residential (i.e. residential units). If you wish to have two dogs, you are required to complete and submit with payment, a Keeping More Than Allowable application with Council for assessment. Approval will not be given for the keeping of more than two dogs (three and more dogs) in a multi-residential premises.

Guide dogs and working dogs by assessment ONLY may qualify for free registration. Under the Animal Management (Cats and Dogs) Act 2008, working dogs may be exempt from mandatory microchipping. You may also be exempt from microchipping if you are able to supply Council with a Veterinary Certificate indicating that your pet’s health may be compromised if microchipped.  

Responsible pet ownership

Legislation and Local Laws

• Queensland 
  • Animal Management (Cats and Dogs) Act 2008
• Gladstone Regional Council
  • Local Law no. 2 (Animal Management) 2011   
  • Subordinate Local Law no. 2 (Animal Management) 2011

Animal inspection program

Council undertakes an annual six calendar month animal inspection program beginning February and ending in July. During the program, Authorised Officers will conduct house to house property inspections to identify if dogs are being kept and registered in accordance with requirements of the Act and Councils Local Law No. 2 (Animal Management) 2011.

Authorised Officers will conduct enquiries with registered animal owners who had dogs registered in the previous registration period but have not renewed their animal’s registration for the current registration period, and those registrations that have an amount owing. This is conducted by the officers visiting, and if necessary, entering yards of premises. These Authorised Officers have the authority to enter properties to conduct those inspections under the Animal Management Act (cats and dogs) 2008 provisions, General Powers to Enter Places, Sec 111 1 (h)(i).  

For each cat and dog currently registered with Council, the nominated registered owner of the animal will be issued an annual registration renewal notice and if there is any amount outstanding, an overdue registration reminder notice. An additional attempt is also made to the registered owner if the full amount of their animal’s registration renewal was not paid and there is an outstanding amount. This allows the registered owner another opportunity to pay the outstanding amount, so they are not included in the Animal Inspection Program. 

All Council officers are required to display identification and advise the property owner of the reason for the visit/inspection. If you are not home at the time that the inspection was conducted you will receive a “Calling Card” see below, that will explain why Council has attended and entered your property.

The program operates in the first half of the calendar year from February for a period of six calendar months ending in July.   Council issues annual renewal notices and an overdue reminder notices to the registered owner of the animal and an attempt is also made to the registered owner if the full amount of their animal’s registration renewal was not paid and there is an outstanding amount, on their animal’s current registration.  This is to allow them the opportunity to pay the outstanding amount so they are not included in the Animal Inspection Program. 

The Animal Inspection Program promotes responsible pet ownership by relaying it is the animal owner’s responsibility to notify Council of any change of address or animal details and to ensure their registration renewal is paid before the registration period for their animal has expired, whether or not a renewal notice was received. The program also assists in the collection of statistical data to provide an accurate record of the number of dogs in the Gladstone Region and is a method of identifying lost dogs so they can be reunited with their owners.

The program is designed to meet Council’s obligation to monitor compliance with Part 2 - Registration; and Part 4 - Renewal of Registration requirements of the Animal Management (Cats and Dogs) Act 2008 and will extend to all areas of the Gladstone Region. Properties within these urban and rural areas will be inspected - Agnes Water, Aldoga, Ambrose, Baffle Creek, Bangalee, Barney Point, Beecher, Benaraby, Berajondo, Bororen, Boyne Island, Boyne Valley, Boynedale, Burua, Callemondah, Calliope, Captain Creek, Clinton, Colosseum, Darts Creek, Deepwater, Gladstone, Glen Eden, Iveragh, Kin Kora, Kirkwood, Lowmead, Miriam Vale, Mount Larcom, New Auckland, Raglan, River Ranch, Rodds Bay, Rosedale, Round Hill, Rules Beach, Seventeen Seventy, South Gladstone, South Trees, Sun Valley, Tablelands, Tannum Sands, Taragoola, Targinnie, Telina, The Narrows, Toolooa, Turkey beach, West Gladstone, Wooderson, Wurdong Heights, Yarwun. 

Council has the authority to fine pet owners for an unregistered animal (dog) and/or failing to ensure an animal is implanted with a PPID (microchip), as per our Code of Offences.

Further failure to register after this will result in an increased fine and an officer will enter the property under a Warrant signed by a Magistrate to seize and impound the animal/s at the owner’s expense until the animal is registered.  Please be aware that payment of the fine does not cover the animal’s registration – this is a separate charge.   

The animal inspection program assists in the collection of statistical data to provide an accurate record of the number of dogs in the Gladstone Region and is a method of identifying lost dogs so they can be reunited with their owners.