Residents in the City of Playford are being urged to take early action and register their pets before the due date of 31 August.

Visiting family in Playford from Jamestown in the state’s mid-north, Tracey Delany can testify to the importance of dog registration, after her travelling companion, Jack Russell Terrier, Millie, went missing in Blakeview.

“I was staying with my sister and knew it was strange for Millie not to greet me and after looking around we noticed a hole under the fence,” Tracey said.

Millie had made a great escape and was noticed narrowly avoiding heavy traffic as she crossed Main North Road. Sightings of Millie were reported into Council and three days later, she was found at the back of a commercial property in Smithfield.

Council community inspector, Cheryl Doudle, said that they were able to reunite Millie quickly, thanks to re registration and microchipping.

“We were able to identify Millie’s owner in a matter of minutes and were able to return her to Tracey’s sister’s home that day,” said Cheryl.

“With Millie’s home being a two-hour drive away from Playford, it would have been almost impossible to identify and locate her owners without that information.”

In the past 12 months, the City of Playford have received 1088 phone calls about wandering dogs and have collected 628.

Inspector Cheryl has urged local pet owners to follow Tracey’s example.

“An unregistered and unmicrochipped pet can go months without finding their original owner. Many will end up in the care of groups like the Animal Welfare League, which can add unnecessary pressure on the system.”

Tracey said that pet registration was simply one of the steps of being a responsible pet owner.

“When Millie went missing it was heart-breaking. After hearing the story of her crossing a busy highway, you imagine the worst-case scenario. Knowing that Millie had her contact information updated gave us a glimmer of hope,” said Tracey.

“That was a long three days – I can’t imagine how much worse it would have been.”

People must register their pets before 31 August 2024. This can be done online at dogsandcatsonline.com.au, by phone on 8256 0333, or in person at Playford Civic Centre, 10 Playford Blvd, Elizabeth, and the Stretton Centre, 307 Peachey Rd, Munno Para.