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A Publication Featuring The Information
Services Technology of Maine State Government
| Volume VI, Issue 11 | November 2003 |
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By Norma Worley and Tiffany Glidden
The Department of Agriculture, in partnership with InforME, is pleased to introduce a service, On-line Dog Licensing. The system permits citizens to license their dogs on the web, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Users also have the option to make a contribution to fight animal abuse in the State of Maine. The system is designed to protect individual privacy. All payment information is transmitted over secure lines and no confidential information is stored by the system. The system uses "secure socket layer software" to encrypt personal and financial information such as credit card number, or name, and address during transmission to the server.
Currently, in order for a citizen to license a dog they need to go to their municipal office with a current rabies certificate, spay or neuter certificate (if the dog is altered) and cash or a check. Many citizens often overlook licensing their dogs, or find it inconvenient to appear in person during limited municipal office hours. The 130,000 dogs licensed in the state is only 50-60% of the total canine population. The Department of Agriculture hopes that by offering the convenience of licensing dogs via the Internet that more dogs will be licensed in the state, while shortening lines and lightening workloads at municipal offices.
Municipal participation in the On-line Dog Licensing program is optional, and participating municipalities receive their full licensing fees. Citizens will need to have the same information that they would in order to license their dog at their municipality but they will be able to pay with their credit card. They will be able to license multiple dogs in one transaction with this service.
It costs citizens $7.00 to license an altered dog and $11.00 for an unaltered dog. The dog licensing application will debut in November and can be found at www.on-linedoglicensing.com.
Tiffany L. Glidden is an eGovernment Specialist at InforME (the Information Resource of Maine http://www.maine.gov/informe/. She may be reached by calling 621-2600 ext. 31 or e-mailing tiffany@informe.org.
Norma Worley of Brewer was named Chief of the Animal Welfare Program of the Maine Department of Agriculture in February 2003. Previously she was a supervising animal control officer in Ventura County, California, for 21 years. Contact her by e-mailing norma.j.worley@maine.gov.
