Owners of dangerous dogs involved in attacks will cop an annual bill of almost $200 if they want to keep their pet.
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The new annual permit scheme, which was introduced this month, has owners of restricted dog breeds paying steeper fees in a bid to reduce dog attacks and improve community safety.
There were 111 dog attacks recorded within the Wagga council area during the last financial year alone.
Of these attacks, 45 people were left with serious injuries while 23 animals died either during the attack or had to be euthanised as a result of their injuries.
Wagga dog trainer Carmen McGill said these changes are encouraging dog owners to take responsibility of their pet's behaviour and "keeping the community safe".
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She said owners need to really understand the breed of dog they were bringing into their home and ensure it is receiving proper training and given guidelines and direction from a young age.
"We don't want people doing the wrong thing and then we have these horrendous attacks because of it," she said.
"We don't want [restricted dog breeds] out in the community falling into people's hands that basically don't understand the capacity of the dogs that they have in their backyard."
Among the list of high-risk dogs include the American pitbull terrier, Japanese tosa, Argentinean and Brazilian fighting dogs, as well as, any dog declared by the council as restricted.
"The restricted breeds that they are talking about are fighting breed dogs. They are not your average dog that people can go out and buy locally, they are specifically designed to fight," Mrs McGill said.
"[These changes] are for public safety because unfortunately some people who get those breeds ... they want them [to fight].
"Unfortunately there are people out there, who breed them behind closed doors ... and there are stricter guidelines to keep people safe in the community."
Meanwhile, owners of cats that are not desexed will need to pay an $80 annual permit in addition to the one-off lifetime pet registration fee.
Mrs McGill said she understands that some might consider these changes harsh, but it is combating a major problem that the Wagga community is not immune to, with roaming cats killing native wildlife and animals and spreading diseases.
Once the state government's companion animal register has been upgraded the owners affected by the new permit system will be notified and given a period to comply.