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Dog and Animal Control responsibilities are wide and include among other duties: enforcing the provisions of the Town’s Bylaw, Article V., Section 3., Regulation of Dogs; explaining violations and suggesting corrective behaviors, using the following enforcement actions: issuing findings; assessing fines; making written warnings; performing inspections; confining; issuing orders of temporary restraint; restraining; muzzling; appearing before and making recommendations to the Board of Selectmen at Dog Hearings concerning vicious dogs, orders of permanent restraint, banishment, or destruction, and appearing at hearings at the District Court in the event of appeals.

Duties also include: seeking out, catching, and confining dogs within the Town that remain unlicensed after a reasonable grace period; ensuring all fees and fines are paid prior to removing an animal from the pound. Also, seeking out, catching, and confining any dog within the Town found running at large on public property, or on private property where the property owner or person in control of the property wants the dog removed.