A dog owner who failed to microchip, control and prevent dogs from straying, was given a total of £3k to pay by York Magistrates on Tuesday 10 October 2019.

Lloyd Hunter (aged 37 of Boroughbridge Road, York) was convicted in his absence to offences of failing to correctly microchip two Alaskan Malamutes, transferring a third Alaskan Malamute to another person with an incorrect microchip, and failure to comply with a community protection notice on two occasions.

Between July and October 2018, the dogs were regularly reported to City of York Council after straying onto neighbouring properties, including a children’s nursery. The council also discovered the dogs had incorrectly registered microchips.

Mr Hunter was issued multiple notices in October 2018 that required him to register the animals correctly with a relevant database operator, as well as a warning to keep his dogs under control.

Following further complaints in November 2018, Mr Hunter was issued with a Community Protection Notice requiring him to secure his property and ensure that his dogs were kept under proper control.

On 1 January 2019, a stray Alaskan Malamute that Mr Hunter had reportedly sold to a friend, was found to be still registered to the original owner, who Mr Hunter had purchased the dog from a few years earlier.

Another dog in Mr Hunter’s possession was also found straying by a local resident and returned on 12 June 2019, after the dog escaped and ran across the A1237.

The previous month, on 31 May 2019, Mr Hunter was walking three Alaskan Malamutes in Millennium Gardens, Nether Poppleton, when the dogs ran out of sight and attacked a Cockapoo. The dogs were off the lead and left the Cockapoo with injuries requiring over one week of veterinary treatment.

In interview during the investigation, Mr Hunter said that he was unaware of any injuries to the Cockapoo at the time of the incident, and also bought a stronger lead to prevent further escapes from his property. He also stated that he mistakenly registered his dogs through a discounted database, which is not recognised by local authorities.

Mr Hunter was convicted in his absence having failed to attend court. He was ordered to pay fines of £1,790, costs of £1,334.28 and a victim surcharge of £66.

Cllr Denise Craghill, Executive Member for Housing and Safer Neighbourhoods, said: “Responsible dog owners ensure that their animals are kept under control when out in public and properly secured when at home.”

“Since the law changed in 2015 all dogs must not only have identification tags, but they must also be microchipped with all details recorded on a relevant database operator. A list of these database operators can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/get-your-dog-microchipped.”