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City will expand animal control, end roaming dogs |
By Ron Schaming
The COURIER
The city of Savannah is preparing to enhance its bare-bones Animal Control Department operations.
Currently, animal control comes under the immediate direction of the city manager, who relies on a single paid employee.
The minimal staffing level and relatively small animal shelter facility have contributed to complaints that the department is not up to the task.
But the city is currently advertising to hire a full-time director for animal control and is also considering constructing a new and improved animal shelter within the city limits, officials say.
Local philanthropist Ron Pickard of Horse Creek Wildlife has been involved in discussions with the city and is expected to play a role in the proposed upgrades to the animal control program.
The animal shelter is now located well outside the city near the Savannah-Hardin County Airport, a situation City Manager Garry Welch calls “counterproductive” since the department only services Savannah.
Hardin County residents outside the city have no animal control services.
The issue appears to have been dropped in recent months or at least put on the back burner by the county commission.
The new animal control director post for the city involves enforcing state and local laws and ordinances concerning the care, use, treatment, selling, licensing and impounding of animals.
The director is responsible personally and through staff to conduct investigations and inspections, issue citations and warnings; to educate the public about relevant animal regulations and humane animal care; to ensure that all impounded
animals are cared for in a humane and appropriate manner and that adequate records are kept regarding each animal, including adoption contracts.
Depending on qualifications, the job will pay somewhere in the $30,000 range, according to Welch.
He said also that the city commission plans to consider amending Savannah’s existing animal control ordinance to bring it more in line with new state law.
The proposed amendment will require that dogs and cats be vaccinated for rabies, and require dogs to wear rabies tags.
It will be illegal to allow dogs to “run at large” in the city, and dog sales “shall only be allowed in legally operated kennels” within zoning districts approved for that use.
A violation of the ordinance is to result in a fine of $5 to $50, with each day of violation considered a separate offense subject to an additional fine. |
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Last Updated on Monday, 05 January 2009 14:57 |
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Budget committee cuts money for county animal control |
by Ron Schaming
The COURIER
Noted local philanthropist Ron Pickard and a homegrown animal protection organization both resigned from a county committee devoted to implementing a countywide animal control program.
The departures from the Hardin County Animal Control Committee came after a 6-3 vote by the county budget committee on May 27. The budget committee recommended to the full county commission a level of funding for a proposed animal control department that is $70,000 less than the $170,000 the Animal Control Committee sought.
The study committee had hoped to cobble together a comprehensive program with a total budget of around $300,000, including $58,000 from the city of Savannah through the absorption of the city’s existing animal control effort, with the balance to come from private donations and fund-raisers.
In a May 28 letter to Hardin County Mayor Kevin Davis, Pickard predicts what he termed the "nominal funding" suggested by the budget committee "will only result in a failed program."
"It is unfortunate that some county commissioners view the program as a 'dog catcher' position and fail to recognize that an effective program must include education, public awareness, rabies control and many other aspects."
Pickard, who along with his wife Linda established a charitable trust in 1998 to fund and operate the 2,000 acre Horse Creek Wildlife Sanctuary and Animal Sanctuary in Hardin County, said he will "not be associated with a program designed to fail." |
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