Mission

To provide responsive, efficient animal control services, to provide a high quality of animal care and to promote responsible pet ownership.

Roles & Responsibilities

Protecting the Health, Safety and Welfare of People and Animals.

Living with Wildlife in Massachusetts
Red and Gray Foxes
Eastern Coyotes
Raccoons

Dog License

• Fill out the Dog License Application
• Massachusetts General Law (M.G.L Chapter 140 s 137) requires that all dogs over 6 months of age be licensed.
• Dog Licenses are available at the Town Clerk's Office, 60 Center Square between the hours of 8 am and 4 pm.
• Current license fees are $10.00 for each dog that has been spayed or neutered, or $20.00 if they are not. Please bring proof of current rabies vaccine and proof of neutering or spaying with you when licensing your dog. Exceptions: No license fee shall be required for bona fide assisting dogs (such as Seeing Eye or hearing ear dogs) with proper paperwork. Applications shall be made to the Town Clerk and tags shall be issued and worn as otherwise provided below.
• Licensing is issued annually for a 12-month period beginning on January 1st through March 31st of each year. Any owner or keeper who applies for a dog license, whether new or renewal, after April 1st will be charged a late fee of $25 for the current year and any delinquent years in addition to potential fines.
• The registering, numbering, describing, and licensing of animals shall be performed in the office of the Town Clerk on a form prescribed and supplied by the Clerk’s office.
• The owner or keeper of a licensed animal shall cause it to wear around its neck or body a collar or harness to which shall be securely attached a license tag issued by the Town Clerk at the time of licensing and a tag proving a current rabies vaccination provided by a licensed veterinarian.
• Dog licenses are a great means of identification and can be traced 24 hours a day 7 days a week by either Animal Control or the Police Department to assist us in returning your dog safely back home. When filling out your Dog license information please include your cell number as this is the best way to reach most residents whose dog has wandered off.

Vaccination against rabies; all dogs, cats and ferrets

Preventing Rabies

• Whoever is the owner or keeper of a dog or cat age six months of age or older or a ferret housed or sheltered in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts shall cause such dog, cat or ferret to be vaccinated against rabies by a licensed veterinarian in accordance with MGL. Chapter 140, S. 145B and Chapter 131, S. 77.

Tips for Finding Your Missing Pet

• When your beloved companion animal strays from home, it can be a traumatic experience for both you and your pet.
• First and foremost license your pet (even an indoor pet). It has a better chance of being returned if he/she always wears a collar with current licensing and rabies ID tags. Other methods of identification (such as tattoos and microchips) are also useful if they are registered. Dogs must be licensed in the town you live in each and every year and once again make sure the license tags our secured to their collar, this is the only voice they have to tell us where they live.
• If you live in East Longmeadow and lose your dog please call the East Longmeadow Police department at 413-525-5440. In addition, the East Longmeadow Animal Control Officer kennels dogs that have been found at Porter Road Pet Care. You may wish to advise Porter Road Pet Care if you lose your dog. Their phone number is 413-525-3532. Leave your name and phone number and a description of your dog.
• If out of the area, contact local Police Departments, Animal Control Departments, and Animal Shelters/Kennels in the area where you’re pet went missing. File a lost pet report with every shelter within a sixty mile radius of your home. If there is no shelter in your community, contact the local police department. Provide these agencies with an accurate description and recent photograph of your pet. Notify the police if you believe that your pet may have been stolen.
• Search the neighborhood. Walk or drive through your neighborhood several times each day. (Early morning and evening are best times to look for lost pets.) Ask neighbors, letter carriers, and delivery people if they have seen your pet.
• Advertise: post signs at grocery stores, community centers, veterinary offices, traffic intersections and other locations and place advertisements in newspapers and with radio stations.
• Save items with a familiar scent outside your home. A litter box, pet bed, or a sweatshirt recently worn by a loved one can attract a pet that has strayed and become disoriented.
• Be wary of pet recovery scams. When describing your pet, leave out one identifying characteristic. When talking about your pet to strangers, offer no information, ask many questions, and carefully answer questions posed to you. Be wary of people who insist that you wire them money in order for them to return your pet.
• Don't give up your search - even when you have little hope left. Animals that have been lost for months have been reunited with their owners.