ohmidog!

A three dog per homeowner limit went into effect this week in Fayetteville, N.C. — a city that seems to just keep getting more heavy-handed when it comes to dogs.

Effective Sunday, in the city that recently sent hired hands to round up strays, dead or alive, homeowners in single family residences are allowed to legally keep three dogs; while apartment renters are limited to two.

And in an effort to crack down on the thousands of local residents who don’t register their dogs, the city has also worked out an arrangement with veterinarians, authorizing them to issue city licenses when pet owners bring their dogs in for vaccinations. That takes effect Jan. 1.

The measures are designed to make the rules in Fayetteville the same as they are in surrounding Cumberland County, the Fayetteville Observer reports.

Dr. John Lauby, director of Cumberland County Animal Control, which also handles animal control for the city, said his department doesn’t plan to go door to door counting dogs, but it will respond to complaints from citizens about residents harboring too many dogs.

There are no cats limits in Fayetteville, or Cumberland County.

Officials hope the more stringent rules will cut down on complaints involving barking and loose dogs, as well as unsanitary yards where dogs are kept.

Fayetteville residents who previously had more than three dogs can keep them, assuming they are up to date on on the pet fees they pay on their property tax bills.

The county has about 39,000 licensed dogs and cats and, it estimates, about 30,000 non-registered ones.

The county is sending letters to those scofflaws, he said.

“We want to be proactive in preventing the spread of rabies from the wild animal population to humans,” he said.

The license fee is $7 per dog or cat if it has been spayed or neutered; $25 if not.

Those discovered illegally harboring more than the allowable number of pets will be fined $100 for a first offense and given a “reasonable amount of time” to find new homes for the excess dogs.

The Cumberland County sheriff’s department will take no disciplinary action against a deputy who shot and killed a 17-pound dog, but officials say they plan to equip more deputies with non-lethal weapons they can use on animals in similar situations.

Ronnie Mitchell, a lawyer with the Sheriff’s Office, said the agency had completed its investigation of the May 23 shooting by Deputy Barbara Siau, assigned to the Child Support Enforcement Unit.

“There’s no dismissal, no suspension or no demotion,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell told the Fayetteville Observer that deputies will undergo training in how to deal with animals, and some will be equipped with devices such as stun guns, chemical sprays and batons for use in non-lethal situations.

Siau had gone to Dana Anderson’s home in Hope Mills, N.C., looking for someone else when Gizmo, a Pekingese-dachshund mix, slipped out the door. Anderson said Siau kicked Gizmo when the dog ran toward her, then shot him.

Anderson said she was pleased to learn deputies will carry non-lethal tools. But she still believes she could have stopped Gizmo before the deputy fired, had she been given the chance.

“The thing that gets me, she should have gave me the opportunity to get him,” Anderson said.

A New Jersey woman apparently attempted do-it-yourself surgery on her husky mix, and heavily sedated two of her other pets with narcotics, for reasons police and the Cumberland County SPCA are still trying to figure out.

Stephanie Ballassi, of Bridgeton, had not been charged by Monday night, but she could face multiple charges of animal cruelty as the investigation continues, said Bev Greco, executive director of the Cumberland County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

“This is not something we’ve ever dealt with before,” Greco told The Daily Journal.

On Sunday, Bridgeton police were called to Ballassi’s home  and found a bloody scene. The pets were immediately removed and taken to veterinary hospitals.

The husky mix was treated from a palm-sized head wound apparently caused when its owner attempted to surgically remove a lump on his head.

The other animals found in the house were lethargic, and investigators suspect they had been given human anti-depressants and anti-seizure medication.

A long-hair Persian-mix cat was also heavily drugged and had patches of her fur shaved off.

The husky mix, estimated to be about four years old, still hadn’t totally revived from whatever drugs he had been given, officials said.

SPCA investigators have visited Ballassi’s house before. In  2008, they were called to check on the welfare of five dogs and four cats she had at the time. No charges resulted.

In November 2011, Ballassi surrendered a basset hound, a German shepherd, three cats and a bird to the shelter. Ballassi said she was moving, but she continued to reside at the same address.

Both dogs went on to be adopted, the SPCA said.

(Cumberland County SPCA Executive Director Bev Grecco checks on a male husky that was taken from a Bridgeton home Monday; photo by Cody Glenn/ The Daily Journal)

Bombarded by 18,000 emails and faced with a crowd of more than 100 dog lovers, the Cumberland County Animal Control Board last night dropped a proposal to ban adoptions of pit bulls, Rottweilers, chow chows and other breeds.

About 10 breeds were included in the proposal — as were any mixes of them — all of which would have been euthanized within three days of arriving at the North Carolina county’s shelter.

Instead, the Fayeteville Observer reports, the animal control board directed Dr. John Lauby, the animal control director, to look into ways the county can better screen people who adopt animals to ensure they’ll be responsible owners.

The proposed breed ban was recommended about two months after Cumberland County hired a contractor to round up stray and feral dogs in and around Fayetteville — most of which ended up getting euthanized.

That step, and the breed ban, were prompted by complaints from the public about free-running dogs that posed nuisances and dangers.

In October, the Animal Control board recommended that the county deem “unadoptable” any and all bully breeds, as well as Rottweilers chow chows,  Great Danes and German shepherds, according to some reports.

Those breeds, and mixes of them — labeled “attack dogs” by one county official – would have been euthanized within 72 hours, unless other shelters or rescues took them.

By Monday night, Lauby said he had received more than 18,000 emails about the proposal, many from activists who — based on online petitions and erroneous news reports — believed the county was to start euthanizing all such breeds Monday.

“We’re not trying to kill anything,” Lauby said. “We’re trying to adopt animals.”

Among those who addressed the board were pit bull owners, rescuers, trainers and groomers, many of whom voiced their opposition to breed specific policies and laws.

“Some of the best dogs I groom are dogs that are on the list,” said Karin Miller, a groomer in Hope Mills. “We can’t categorize the dogs any more than we can categorize people.”

Troy Duke, who runs a Cumberland County pit bull rescue, said the dogs are “suffering from the same stereotypes that racists label other people with.”

Lauby told the board that dog adoptions have increased from 700 per year to about 2,000, but the county still euthanizes some 11,000 dogs annually.

About 1,000 pit bulls arrive at the county shelter a year, most of which are euthanized.

(An update to this story can be found here.) 

Apparently gunning down stray dogs on the streets wasn’t enough for the dog unfriendly officials of Cumberland County, North Carolina.

Now they want to slay, within 72 hours, every dog that comes into the shelter who is, or appears to be a mix of: 

American Staffordshire terrier, Rottweiller, Akita, chow chow, Doberman pinscher, German shepherd, Great Dane, Presa Canario, Siberian husky or mastiff. There’s a convenient catch-all pit bull category as well.

They’re not doing it yet, despite what you may be reading on the misinformation highway.

But they’re talking about it.

The county’s Animal Control Board is recommending that authorities limit the adoption of the above dog breeds, or, as one county official referred to them, ”attack animals.” (Clearly, they haven’t met many Great Danes.)

The idea is only in the discussion stages, but many websites are reporting –erroneously — that the new policy goes into effect today.

“I’ve probably had 1,500 emails,” said John Lauby, director of Cumberland County Animal Control. (Here’s hoping he gets about 150,000 more.)

Lauby told a Fayetteville Observer columnist that misinformation on the Internet led people to believe the county will ban adoption of pit bulls and other breeds starting Monday, and immediately euthanize any members of those breeds in the shelter.

In reality, the county hasn’t taken that medieval step, it’s just considering it.

“We’re looking at a list of animals used as attack animals,” County Commissioner Charles Evans said. “It has been suggested that something needs to be done about those.”

The recommendation would have to make its way through a committe and then require approval by the county commissioners before going into effect. But it’s scheduled to be introduced at a meeting tonight. (6 p.m., at Cumberland County Animal Services, 4704 Corporation Drive, Fayetteville).

Lauby said animal control constantly receives calls from residents complaining about dogs behaving aggressively or running loose, preventing people from getting into their cars.

“We have an inordinate number of pit bulls in the county that are chasing people, chasing dogs, they’re on school grounds and generally bother people,” he said. “The reality is that about 80 percent of our calls are related to that particular breed.”

Complaints from the public also led Cumberland County to hire an outside contractor to capture stray dogs in and around Fayetteville — a massive roundup that started in August and, at last report, led to more dogs being gunned down than caught alive.

Fayetteville doesn’t have its own animal control department, instead relying on the county office to handle dog-related issues.

As I’ve implied before, that might be part of the problem — the problem, in my view, being not just too many uncontrolled dogs, but too many unenlightened public servants, who see dogs as foes and death as a solution.

Maybe it’s the army base influence. In any event, someone needs to usher Cumberland County into modern times.

In a way, the proposed policy — while it it lists some new ”public enemy” breeds, like the husky, and some returning ones, like the shepherd — would only formalize what’s already common practice in the county.

Since April, Cumberland County Animal Control has taken in nearly 1,300 pit bulls, but only 124 have been adopted. The shelter has taken in 180 Rottweilers since then, only 26 of whom were adopted. Of 96 chow chows received at the shelter since April, 15 have been adopted, according to the Fayetteville Observer.

The rest are euthanized.

Now, some want to make it official, banning the adoption of any of those breeds and guaranteeing a death sentence for all of them, or any mixes thereof — all based on what will likely be, judging from the wisdom they’ve shown so far, an uneducated guess.

In addition to complaints, worries about liability issues are also behind the proposal. The county fears it might be held responsible for any damage done by dogs adopted from its shelter. Most shelters handle that with a simple waiver.

Petitions against the policy can be found on several websites, including our-compass.org and change.org.

If you’d like to give Cumberland County officials a piece of your mind — and it appears they could use it — continue reading for contact information.

Read more »

A rapidly climbing euthanasia rate at the Wake County Animal Center in Raleigh prompted volunteers to take their concerns to a local television station.

No one disputes the figures: In January, the Wake County shelter euthanized 131 dogs, or about 18 percent of those brought in. By August, that number had climbed to 327 euthanized dogs, or nearly 42 percent of the intake, according to WRAL.

The Wake County shelter is one of the more progressive government-run shelters in the state, and it was working toward establishing a “no kill” policy.

But a rising number of surrendered and abandoned animals, and some bouts with diseases and sickness have forced an increased in euthanizations.

Wake County’s euthanasia rate last year was 28 percent — far better than most North Carolina counties. Orange County (Chapel Hill) had a 33 percent rate; Mecklenburg County (Charlotte) reported a 50 percent rate; and in Cumberland County a whopping 73 percent of the dogs that entered the county shelter last year were euthanized.

Cumberland County, you’ll recall — and if you don’t we’ll help you — is where a private wildlife control company has been hired to round up stray dogs around Fayetteville.

Mims Wildlife Damage Control, working with animal control staff, have hunted down 80 or more stray or feral dogs.

“As of Monday 80 packs of dogs have been removed, 57 of those were field euthanized, 27 were taken to the Cumberland County animal shelter,” said Jon Soles, with Cumberland County public information.

If you’re wondering about that math, yes it does add up to 84.

If you’re wondering what “field euthanized” is, it means shot and killed.

Of those allowed to live, four have been adopted out, and eight are in foster care.

Meanwhile, back in Raleigh, the volunteers say they came forward in an attempt to slow Wake County’s rising rate of euthanasia.

“We really want to come together as a group to figure out ways that we can stop this needless killing of animals,” one of the volunteers, Julie Powers, told the TV station’s investigative team.

Volunteers said they also worry that ongoing issues with the heating and air conditioning units might contribute to sick animals.

Andre Pierce, Wake County’s environmental health and safety director, says the shelter is committed to finding better ways to save the dogs.

“No one wants to euthanize animals,” he said. “We would much rather them go to a permanent home – a forever home – and go out the front door rather than go out the back door.”

A private company hired to round up stray dogs in Fayetteville, N.C., captured six over the weekend, using baited traps and tranquilizer darts.

A pair of two-man teams began working 12-hour shifts Friday, Cumberland County animal control Director John Lauby told the Board of commissioners Monday.

They’ll continue to do so for the next 30 days in a bid to eliminate the packs of dozens of dogs — up to 150 by some estimates — that they say have “terrorized” residents and pets, and sparked fears of a rabies outbreak, the Fayetteville Observer reported.

Fayetteville opted against hiring the Texas outfit that originally offered to take care of the problem — the Dangerous Animal Task Force.

According to a Fayetteville Observer article last week, City Manager Dale Iman said that company was “not a registered entity,” and that it didn’t ”have a lot of experience to go by.”

Instead, the city contracted with a local company called Mims Wildlife Control. The company is not authorized to kill dogs during capture attempts; if that became necessary, county animal control officials would handle it.

Lauby has repeatedly described the dogs as a threat, and says they create a risk for a rabies epidemic. “Feral dogs are not like pets that you and I know,” he said. “They are like wild lions and tigers; they are very dangerous.” But he does acknowledge that some dogs who get caught up in the sweep could be recent pets and turn out to be adoptable. He said all the dogs will be assessed before they are euthanized. All dogs brought to the shelter are kept for three days by law.

Fayetteville doesn’t have an animal control department, and is splitting the cost of the round-up with Cumberland County.

When Commissioner Jeannette Council asked Lauby if the animals could be adopted, once caught, he said it’s possible, but most would be too wild.

“We’re going to give that dog a chance,” he said, “but no dog is going to be adopted from our shelter that’s going to be a danger or a potential danger to our citizens. I won’t let that happen.”

While rounding up an euthanizing Fayetteville’s feral and stray dogs doesn’t seem to have become a hugely controversial issue, we did find one Facebook page devoted it.

As far as our view of all this, in case our earlier pieces didn’t make it clear, we think stray dogs — even “feral” dogs — deserve a complete evaluation by professionals; that some of them, at least, should have a shot at being rehabilitated and becoming pets again; that three days may not be enough time to make that decision; and that, with the possibility of 150 dogs being hastily executed in Fayetteville, some animal welfare group, however unwelcome they might be, should be stepping in.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has added $2,500 to the reward being offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the case of a dog dragged behind a pickup truck in Vineland, N.J. earlier this month.

Coupled with the $1,000 offered by the Cumberland County (N.J.) SPCA, that brings the total reward to $3,500.

A Vineland resident called 911 on the night of June 13 to report a green pickup truck with a matching cap was dragging the dog along the road. Police were unable to locate the truck or the dog that night.

The brown mixed breed, who has been given the name Reese, suffered bruises on her right side and injuries to her face and the pads and nails on her front paws, according to the Daily Journal. No arrests have been made in connection with the June 13 incident.

Reese is expected to cover, but will likely remain in the hospital for two weeks, said Cumberland County SPCA Executive Director Bev Greco

“We definitely like to catch anybody involved in cases like this,” said David Perle, communications coordinator for PETA, “There’s a link between cruelty to animals and violence to other people. Obviously this is a terrible case, but there are other issues.”

SPCA investigators are trying to make contact with a man who was in possession of the dog at the time of the incident, but he has not returned calls.

(Photo: Cumberland County SPCA)

Mike and Miriam Snyder, of Vineland City, N.J., regretfully turned their two Shih Tzus over to a shelter at the beginning of this month. With Miriam ill, and Mike with his hands full, they felt they were no longer able to properly care for the dogs, named Gabby and Marty.

Last week, after one of their sons quit his job and returned home to help his parents, they decided to get the brother and sister Shih Tzus back.

But when Mike returned to the Cumberland County SPCA he learned that Marty had been adopted — the day after his family had dropped him off.

The other dog, Gabby, was still at the shelter. But after the family filled out adoption papers and made arrangements to return and reclaim her a few days later — after she was spayed — they found out someone else had beat them to the punch.

As for Marty, shelter director Bev Greco told The Daily Journal in Vineland that, while strays are kept for seven days before being made available, owner-released animals are put up for adoption immediately — a rule the family apparently didn’t understand.

As for Gabby, Greco said another application to adopt her had been received a day before the Snyders came to ask for their dog.  She said the shelter tried to call the family about the situation, but a phone number they left was not working.

Mike Snyder says he was not told about the competing application.

Greco said she had no plan to contact the people who adopted Marty and Gabby. “They’ve both got very good homes,” she said.

On Wednesday though, the family got a lead on the whereabouts of Gabby after placing an in Vineland’s Daily Journal. It was from a woman who said she drove another a woman to the shelter to adoptd Gabby. She promised to contact the woman about giving back the dog.

As of yesterday, the family was still waiting.