Licences will not solve problem

DEAR Editor,-

I refer to the letter in last week’s Herald from ‘Fed up’ entitled ‘Tweni residents barking mad’. Countless residents, including myself, will endorse the complaint about unchecked barking of dogs in all areas at all hours of the day and night. This is obviously a standard example of disturbance of the peace. Bylaws exist to deal with this problem, but are not enforced because we are obliged live with and pay for the ANC administration’s culture of dysfunctional ‘service delivery.’

It is mind-boggling that a resident who is familiar with the ways of the bloated, inefficient and incompetent administration of this country, can possibly be so stupid as to call for them to demand extra revenue from ratepayers in the hope that this will result in anything more than an additional drain on the public purse. This issue of extracting money for dog licenses has been dealt with before and the ensuing public outcry along the lines I mention put a stop to it.

That having been said, a degree of barking is a normal activity for dogs and as dogs have been accepted human companions for centuries and are kept by the majority of us, their presence in neighbourhoods will be felt, just as our own presence is felt by our ambient noises. Unfortunately, night and day, our streets are constantly being prowled by thieves and murderers looking for their next opportunity. This clearly exacerbates the barking problem, but if people would do the decent thing and keep their pets indoors at night, this problem would be much reduced.

We are obliged to tolerate the other neighbourhood noises, such as the sound of lawnmowers, building operations or general maintenance, car motors or occasional hooting or loud voices. Reasonable people will be considerate towards their neighbours, just as reasonable people will tolerate their considerate neighbours.

Unfortunately many of us are abysmally short on empathy.

The thoughtless neighbour whose children's incessant shouting is projected across neighbouring properties, the uncaring resident several houses down the road who plays his hi fi at such an excessive volume that it intrudes into neighbour's homes and prevents them from enjoying their own thoughts, their own activities, their own conversation or even just a semblance peace; the obnoxious lunatic who ignites ear-splitting big-bang fireworks that terrorise humans and other creatures; the ‘dog-owner’ who allows his charges to bark incessantly without cause – except perhaps out of the unendurable boredom he inflicts on them by their confinement, with no provision for diversion – these are all the result of selfish, thoughtless human beings and hopeless policing. Calling for more stealth taxes to solve this problem is ludicrous.

FED UP 2

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