Are More Animal Control Officers Needed?

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WBLT 3-Jackson, Mississippi

By Roslyn Anderson

Animal advocates say Jackson's Animal Control agency is not equipped to handle the growing pet population.

Recent cases of neglect and attacks on residents has some concerned that the public is at risk.

Debbie Phillips, who rescued a neglected dog a few days ago said, "I've known about the dogs for months, and I've been trying to get animal control to come out and check on them."

Phillips says she repeatedly called Jackson Animal Control about a dog with a cable around its neck that eroded into its trachea.

The dog was recently euthanized.

She says others run loose in her neighborhood.

"There just seems to be not enough animal control officers. There's two officers in one truck to take care of the whole city and what I want to know is how can we make more ordinances to control animals when we are letting animals be treated like this," Phillips said.

WLBT left messages with Jackson Animal Control requesting an interview about the number of employees they have, their budget and complaint statistics.

We were told Lt. Gerald Jones was not available to talk with us, and we weren't provided any other information.

Mississippi Animal Rescue League Executive Director Debra Boswell said, "There's not enough staff over there."

Boswell says with Jackson's population of an estimated 150,000 owned pets, in addition to strays, more animal control employees are needed.

"Years ago they had about 24 employees. There was an animal control officer plus a helper on each truck per precinct. They had a floating truck. They had someone that come out and worked a late shift," Boswell said. "There was somebody on until 10 or 12 o'clock every night."

The rescue league director says over six years ago animal control processed 3,500 to 4,000 animals per year.

Last year the rescue league processed 16,000.

Animal advocates hope the city will invest more money in the department that is responsible for patrolling the streets for vicious dogs and strays and upholding current animal ordinances.

The animal rescue league processed about 1,500 more dogs in 2005 than the year before.

They believe the animal shelter also had similar increases.