Has the nanny state struck again? The new neighbourhood noise law that's dividing a city - and it's bad news if you're a dog owner
- City of Darwin Council has introduced new rules around animal control
- Any dog barking for longer than three minutes could spark an investigation
- Debate has been sparked online since the stricter noise levels were announced
Animal owners will be investigated if their dog barks for longer than three minutes under strict new noise rules.
The limit was set by the City of Darwin Council this week in a bid to silence nuisance canines.
Under the new rules, if a dog barks for more than three minutes in a 30 minute period during the night or six minutes in an hour during the day, irritated neighbours can call the council to investigate.
Barking mad: New rules could see animal owners investigated if their dog barks for longer than three minutes in Darwin (stock image)
Debate has been sparked online since the strict noise levels were announced, with some people taking to social media in support of the change.
'It is always a tricky area, but hopefully it will make people a bit more responsible for their dogs. No-one should have their peace broken by a continuous barking dog,' one woman said.
Share this article
'Dogs barking all day while the owners are at work … try being a shift worker who needs to sleep,' another person said.
However, not everyone was happy about the rules.
'Maybe easy revenue raising? How about they do something to stop the antisocial behaviour that leads to dogs barking instead?' one woman said.
The limit was set by the City of Darwin Council (Darwin pictured) this week in a bid to silence nuisance barking
'I'm glad my dog barks at night lately with all the crime in my neighbourhood,' said another person.
There will be exemptions under the stricter rules, such as emergency sirens, storms, mail delivery and peak-foot traffic.
Council has also dropped the number of dogs a resident can have on their property to just four.
Animal lovers were able to have up to five dogs registered to one home and an unspecified number of cats
