Murphy – The Cherokee County Board of Commissioners held a workshop to gather information about vicious dogs and what to do about them.
No decisions were made.
The meeting on March 4 was originally planned to be a standalone workshop focused strictly on animal control, but morphed into a special called meeting with several unrelated issues added to the agenda.
Once the dust settled from other agenda items, commissioners heard reports from Cherokee County Sheriff Dustin Smith, sheriff’s Capt. David Williams and Cherokee County Health Director David Badger. The sheriff’s office has been tagged to handle vicious dogs, while the health department’s animal control responsibility is limited to rabies control.
The March 4 work session was the latest in a series of discussions that have taken place over the past two years as the county looks for ways to handle uncontrolled vicious dogs after commissioners balked at a proposal for a vicious animal ordinance, leaving state laws to govern that issue.
The sheriff’s office had been given responsibility for dealing with vicious dogs but no equipment, personnel, training nor budget to handle the extra workload.
Meanwhile, the Valley River Humane Society, which contractually is the county’s animal shelter in Marble, is often at or beyond capacity and unable to accept more dogs.
Smith emphasizes that his office handles vicious dogs, not strays. He has pushed for funding for animal control officers who are not sworn deputies so future sheriffs won’t be tempted to take them off animal control and put them on patrol as road deputies.
The sheriff reminded commissioners that there is paperwork involved in vicious dog cases and that deputies may have to prioritize writing reports about felony arrests over cases of vicious dogs.
Meanwhile, Williams has been working with outside counties looking at how other jurisdictions handle the problem. His efforts have resulted in the donation of used, but serviceable, animal control vehicles and equipment from Caldwell County. However, staffing, training and funding remain issues, along with providing housing for seized animals that is reliably available.
“We’re willing to do it,” Smith said, “but we need a place to take them.”
Williams has been working closely with Caldwell County for guidance and inspiration. That county, which is larger than Cherokee County in population, has its own animal shelter.
On the health department side, space is needed to quarantine animals that have bitten humans, Badger said, adding that there has been a big increase in animals biting humans lately.
County attorney Darryl Brown said the county also should define “vicious,” since the state’s definition is vague.
Smith said citizens are calling the sheriff’s office with animal control complaints and are left frustrated over the outcome. He said his deputies are equally frustrated, both by their lack of training and resources as well as the added paperwork and workload.
Commissioner Cal Stiles asked staff to look at Macon County to see how animal control is handled there, since its population, though larger than Cherokee County’s, is a closer approximation than Caldwell County.