HALEYVILLE - At the Monday, April 21, Haleyville City Council meeting, Council Member Ray Boshell and Mayor Ken Sunseri discussed the city's intentions to train some police officers in animal control and enact tougher animal control ordinances with stiffer penalties.
Boshell said city officials are aware of the problems with loose dogs. He said part of the problem is the person formerly responsible for animal control can no longer do that job.
He recommended having one or two police officers trained in animal control, noting that Mayor Ken Sunseri had told him a four-day training would cost $595. If two officers were trained, Boshell said, there could be one animal control officer on each shift.
The next challenge would be where to house any animals collected. Boshell said City Clerk Christy Harbin was looking into finding a vet who would house them, which would allow the animal to have medical care, then the vet could euthanize them if that had to be done.
Boshell said he had been speaking with dog fosterers so that perhaps they could line up a forever home for animals collected during the 7-10 day period they would be housed at a vet's before being put down.
"The big issue, though, is we're going to need to look back at our ordinances because we've got a couple on the books. We're probably going to have to come up with a couple more. Most people are real good folks, but they don't think their dog is the problem," he said. "We're going to have to tighten up our ordinances. I'm recommending that we do a 30-day (grace period), where you get a warning, then after that period, put some teeth in it. It's not going to do us any good to get the infrastructure there if we don't have the ordinances set up.
"We also probably need to look at what the mayor mentioned about large animals, like, if dogs get after somebody's cattle, what are we going to do?" he added.
Council Member Blue Russell asked if the city was going to look into converting a truck for animal control use by getting a cage for it.
Boshell said that had been mentioned, noting, "We'd have to have a way to transport them. We'd have to have some live traps."
He continued, "I know none of us want to put an animal down. We'd try, best case, to either get the owner to make the situation correct so it's not a problem or get them fostered out."
He said the Winston County Commission was going to look into how Lawrence County handles animal control and that he had talked to Phil Campbell's "dedicated dog person."
At the end of the meeting, he added, "Part of the thing we're looking at is trying to get it so the local vets, once or twice a year, will do a low-price day to do (spaying and neutering)."
"The county's responsible for animal control," Sunseri said. "We pay the county a fee of $600 per month, plus an additional fee of $10 for each dog or large animal picked up and $5 for any small animals. We pay that on a monthly basis.
"We're trying to take a step beyond this and come up with an individual (solution)," he noted, adding, "The only class we could find for an officer to go to is in Tennessee. (Police Chief Rodney Lewis) is checking now with the state to see if they'll recognize the course he takes in Tennessee.
"The one thing I need to emphasize is anyone that has a pet, they're responsible for that pet. If you pick up a stray dog and you feed it, basically, it's your dog and you're responsible for it," Sunseri stated.
"We're very concerned about the stray pets that come into the ball fields and the activity where the kids are," he continued. "We have a problem there because people feed them. What happens when you feed them? They're going to come back.
"We're doing the best we can, and we'll take whatever action is deemed to be necessary. We do have cages. We're going to need additional cages. They run about $400 apiece. We're trying to resolve the issue at the city level. We're not required to do this, but I think it's something we have to do in order to protect our kids.
"A lot of people have been on Facebook talking about the (storm) shelters we have. We have a policy that you can't bring an animal in the shelter," he noted. "That policy stays in effect because a lot of time, 20 percent of the people in the shelters are children. Some are allergic to animals."
He went on to say that to have a FEMA facility for animals, "you have to have facilities for dogs, cats, parrots, horses, cows, any other type of animal," as well as cages, supplies and medication for them, plus have a veterinarian on call.
"Lawrence County has a different situation they use and we're looking at trying to find out more information on what they're doing and how we can bring animals in there," Sunseri continued. "Most of these animals are animals that are owned by citizens. They're allowed to run wild. That's where we have a problem. We're doing everything we can. The police are doing everything they can to control the situation. It's a problem, and it exists not only in Haleyville but all over."
See complete story in the Northwest Alabamian.
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