Union County facing animal control dilemma

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The Southern

By Caleb Hale

UNION COUNTY - Time may heal all wounds, but it certainly doesn't solve problems, as exemplified by Union County's persistent animal control dilemma.

Two months after shutting it down, the county board still doesn't have the money to operate regular animal control and it still doesn't have an answer from municipal councils whether they are even interested in seeing the service continue. The county spent its budget portion for animal control in less than half a year, but the service was put on hold indefinitely in March, when animal control officer Donna Hawk resigned.


Board chairman Bill Jackson said the next play must come from the cities before the county moves on hiring a new officer. "Without cooperation from the cities, I don't see us starting back up right away," he said. "Right now we're handling vicious dog complaints and rabies complaints, which we have to do by law."

All animal control complaints are being handled by local law enforcement agencies, like the Union County Sheriff's Department. Sheriff Jim Nash said having his deputies handle the calls is taxing for the department.

Nash said deputies have responded to more than 69 animal-related calls since April 11, a majority of them complaints about vicious dogs.

"We're able to take care of the most serious ones, but we've let the little stuff go," Nash said.

Despite deputies taking emergency calls, the sheriff said the county doesn't have constant monitoring over animal control, and he's worried going too long without any standard of enforcement could end up with someone getting seriously injured by a stray dog. The county barely has the ability to impound dogs that are reported to bite someone.

"When we impound them we either make sure the owners have a fenced-in place or at least can tie (the dog) up," Nash said. He added local veterinarians don't want to take the animals for fear they may spread disease to other pets in their care. "Really they aren't interested in taking them off our hands, because they are nothing but problems."

While municipalities are slow to give answers to the county board about how they want to proceed with animal control, former county officer Hawk has been trying to set up a regional private animal control service that contracts with various cities and counties.

Hawk made proposals to Jonesboro and Anna Monday and Tuesday night respectively. However, city officials largely have yet to decide whether they want to switch to privatized service over local government control.