I spoke recently with Eddie Fulton, Mayor of the City of Quitman, and was shocked to hear that police may shoot dogs at night! This was mentioned while on the telephone trying to learn about the animal control ordinance and plans to change the law.

Mayor Fulton stated that he proposes that the City of Quitman adopt a law similar to that of the City of Morton, Mississippi, for animal control, to permit trapping of stray animals. However, when I obtained a copy of the animal control ordinance for the City of Morton, there is no provision specifically permitting the lawful trapping of stray animals.

After review of Quitman’s Animal Control Ordinance No. 285, I was quite impressed to learn that the City of Quitman already has a pretty good Animal Control Ordinance. The law primarily needs to be amended to bring it up-to-date, but I do not believe the City of Quitman should void those laws with respect to animal control that were adopted July 1, 1986. Although that was 23 years ago, there is a lot sound reasoning and wisdom that went into making the laws which are presently on the books.

If the current animal control ordinance is to be updated, amended or rewritten altogether, perhaps it would be wise to take into consideration the recommendations by the American Veterinary Medical Association. This prestigious organization has published a Model Dog and Cat Control Ordinance which is available for review upon the Internet at www.avma.org/issues/policy/dog_cat_control.asp. Among the recommendation made by the AVMA is that:

“All dogs and cats shall be vaccinated against rabies by a licensed veterinarian, in accordance with the latest “Compendium of Animal Rabies Prevention and Control” authorized by the National Association of State Public Health Veterinarians and published annually in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association.”

Although Quitman’s current animal control ordinance prohibits dogs from running at large which may “communicate hydrophobia,” remarkably there is no provision that requires the vaccination of cats and dogs or their licensing -- though this is covered by state law. Obviously this needs to be corrected via amending the present animal control ordinance, and a good way to do that would be to follow the recommendations of the AVMA in this regard.

The City of Quitman and Clarke County also do not have an animal shelter, pound or even an animal control officer. This is perhaps the biggest loop-hole in Quitman’s current animal control ordinance. Unless the county and the cities come together and provide the funding for an animal shelter, animal control offer, and supporting staff, there is no way to enforce the current laws regarding animal control, much less enforce new laws.

Mayor Fulton also advocates the trapping of stray animal. In the Oct. 22nd edition of The Clarke County Tribune, he said, “a decision will be made on an animal ordinance that the City of Morton adopted several years ago.” Adding, “This ordinance allows for trapping stray animals.” Yet when I obtained a copy of said ordinance, reviewed it and other similar laws by other cities/counties, I found no section specifically permitting the capture of live animals on the books for the City of Morton -- though seizure was permitted. However, other municipalities which have trained and professional animal control officers and which have state of the art animal control shelters, like Forsyth County in North Carolina, do have an ordinance which specifically authorizes animal trapping. Sec. 6-15 of this ordinance reads:

“Setting humane animal traps and authority to receive trapped animals. The animal control department is authorized to place, upon request, live-capture animal traps on private or public property to trap and remove stray, at large, abandoned, or nuisance animals. It is unlawful for any person other than an animal control officer or the officer's designee to remove any animal from the trap or to damage, destroy, move, or tamper with the trap. The animal control department is authorized to receive and impound animals that are trapped by other agencies or persons.”

Forsyth County has an animal shelter, animal control officers who know how to do humanely trap and handle animals, and have the funding and resources for adopting out animals -- this is completely lacking in the City of Quitman and Clarke County. According to Mayro Fulton, Quitman has only budgeted $3,000 for animal control.

There are other provisions in the City of Morton’s animal control ordinance which may not be wise to adopt when both the City of Quitman and Clarke County lack an animal control shelter or animal control officer. This includes making it a misdemeanor for violating any terms and provisions of the ordinance with possible imprisonment for up to thirty (30) days plus a fine of $500.00 for each violation. How can you imprison people for things their animals might do when the city and county have not acted responsibly to provide an animal shelter and/or animal control officer who would be the authority necessary to give testimony with regard to any violation? Also the City of Morton law has a provision which states that, “All animals impounded under this ordinance ... may be offered by the City for suitable adoption or disposed of in a humane manner by the City Police or the animal control officer.” Yet the City of Quitman has no such animal control officer!

As for permitting the City Police to dispose of an animal “humanely,” this is a job for a veterinarian, not the police. I have yet to see a police officer humane dispose of any animal. I have heard about police officers shooting dogs because they were not properly trained or equipped to do animal control or handle nuisance situations. I’ve also heard of police going around and shooting dogs at night. In fact, Mayor Fulton is the one who told me this story. I don’t know when or where it happened, but if that’s the kind of animal control that the City of Quitman implements, it definitely indicates the dire need to properly fund an animal shelter and the trained, professional staff that is needed for animal control.

Any new animal control ordinance adopted by the City of Quitman should make provisions for the proper vaccination of dogs and cats against rabies as well as establish an animal control officers with duties defined. Also, the City of Quitman, Clarke County, and other cities really need to come together and establish a county wide animal shelter. Until this is done I guess it’s open season for the police on everyone’s pets. So you better keep your dogs inside at night for according to Mayor Fulton, its not unthinkable that come one dark, moonless night, a patrolling officer may hear Rover bark at a feral cat or prowler and shoot your dog!

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