AUGUSTA -- State animal-welfare officials estimate fewer than 40 percent of Maine dog owners license their pets, which robs the state and local towns of funding to enforce animal cruelty laws.

"It's very frustrating for us," said Norma Worley, director of the state's animal welfare program. "Eighty percent of our funding for animal welfare comes from dog licensing."

Worley and others say the reasons are many: Some towns don't encourage compliance, dog owners don't understand where the license money goes, and others just don't want to be bothered with another government fee.

"Some towns are very good," Worley said. "Other towns literally couldn't care less and we end up the losers."

Now is the time for dog owners to license their pets for the upcoming year. Some towns participate in an online program, while others require owners to visit town hall to get a license. The deadline is Jan. 31, and late fees go into effect the next day.

The $6 fee for spayed or neutered dogs and $11 for those that haven't been altered are the lowest in New England, Worley said. All told, with fewer than 40 percent of owners licensing their dogs, the program runs on about $1 million a year.

The need for adequate funding for animal welfare has come into sharp focus in the last 18 months, with three high profile cases in different parts of the state grabbing headlines.

In August 2007, officials seized 249 dogs from a Buxton kennel, many of whom were sickly, according to welfare agents. Then in December. 2007, more than 90 dogs that were seized from a three-car garage in Greene were described as underfed and diseased.

And in January of this year, agents seized 66 dogs, four cats and a bird from a Somerville home. In that case, which is expected to go to trial early next year, Fern Clark, 78, has been charged with five felony counts of aggravated animal cruelty.

Humane agents described her home as having floors caked with dried feces and puddles of urine.

These high-profile cases can be costly to address and are just a few examples of the hundreds of cases of abuse and neglect state and local humane agents respond to each year, said Robert Haley, executive director of the Kennebec Valley Humane Society shelter in Augusta.

He described the $1 million a year program as "woefully underfunded" and said if everyone licensed their dogs, it would more than double the budget for enforcement.

"The positive impact that would have on animal welfare, the ability to investigate more cases of abuse and hoarding, would have such a positive impact in Maine," he said.

Haley believes some people don't register their dogs because they don't realize it's required by law.

"People are under the impression the money stays in the town coffer and the town gets enough of their money," he said.

Worley said the towns and state split the license fees almost 50/50.

While some cities and towns don't promote licensing, Waterville is a city that takes an aggressive approach to making sure people are following the law.

Tax Collector Linda Cote said the process starts with a letter sent to every person who licensed a dog the previous year.

If the person doesn't come in by March, she sends a request to city council to give the animal control officer the authority to contact every person on the list, collect the fee, or issue a summons if needed.

Also, the city follows-up on notifications from local veterinarians who alert the state when they administer a rabies vaccination to a dog. Cote said they do a lot of education with city residents, and explain that even small dogs that rarely leave the house must be licensed.

"The state does not distinguish between a Rottweiler and a lap dog," she said.

The city also participates in the online-licensing program to give people a more convenient way to register.

Robert Fisk, executive director of Maine Friends of Animals and a former lawmaker, has been working on animal issues for 10 years. He said although the program has gotten "remarkably better" in that time, the issue of funding is one that never goes away.

He too said many towns don't work hard enough to get people to license their dogs.

"If you can increase compliance even by 25 percent that would be huge," he said.

His group, which is based in Falmouth, gets two or three animal-abuse complaints a week, most of which are related to people who chain their dogs outside, he said.

At Haley's shelter, when a dog is adopted, the shelter issues a temporary license. New owners are then required to go to the town office to get the annual license.

Another barrier to better compliance is that neither the state nor other groups have the money to launch a major public awareness campaign to encourage licensing. And there's no statewide database, so families that move from one town to another must re-license in the new town, Haley said.

"There are, in central Maine, towns that keep dog-licensing records using a stubby pencil," he said.

His organization promotes licensing through its newsletter and television program, but even still, fewer than 40 percent of dog owners heed the message.

"It's the right thing to do," Haley said.

Susan Cover -- 620-7015

scover@centralmaine.com