Animal Control

Pet adoption is a great idea, but like I said, I don't have all the answers on this one. Maybe CV can convince the other towns to cough up money to help out, due to the fact that it is mostly people outside of CV taking advantage of the situation?

Hi Forum,

Whatever the problem of animal abandonment might be these days, the fact is that the animal control appears to be going well. There are fewer stays that l'm seeing than this time last year. proper funding of animal control is essential. What needs to be encouraged and rewarded also is the work of pet adoption. The Spring River Chronicle deserves recognition for its fine work at encouraging animal placement as does the shelter. I don't doubt more funding is desperately needed.

http://www.findaboutpets.com/pet-shelter/2445-spring-river-animal-rescue-effort-spare/

http://spare.rescuegroups.org/

Note the aol email address for the shelter, too funny.

Mike good idea but let's face it, this is not a major crime and the fine if any would not keep people from dumping. This is a problem that will continue and if you really look deep the village actually made it bigger by having the shelter.

I don't have a good answer for this. The barn door has been opened, and even if CV took away the animal shelter and put the word out that CV is not accepting any more strays and pets dropped off inside the village, it will do no good. The word is out, and it will continue to be a place where people from outside the village come and dump their responsibilities onto someone else, i.e. the CV taxpayers. We can't do much about the ones who drop off their pets at the shelter. I like the camera idea. They are at least trying to be somewhat responsible citizens. However, the fines for getting caught dumping your pet on the side of the road to fend for themselves should be massive and criminally prosecuted as severely as possible. The only way to stop it now is show these losers the severe consequences of their illegal dumping. Unfortunately, a police officer catching someone in the act is a very remote possibility so it will continue. It is a big problem and I believe it will continue.

Paul a bunch of us told them that would happen before they created this monster. This is a county problem and should be handled by them but they also know the cost is prohibited and not a good use of taxpayers monies. Lets use the CV deer hunting method of reducing strays. If the mayor wanted to reduce the deer population why not do the same for stray animals and maybe a few politicians.

Hi Forum,

According to a serious article in the Spring River Chronicle, there has been a major uptick in animal "dumping" in the Village. The results are tragic for the animals and frankly dangerous for the residents depending on the pet. Have you noticed an increase in strays? Here is an excerpt from the SRC article:


Thomas Estes

In the recent discussions over Cherokee Village’s City Budget, the budget of the Animal Control department has become something of a focal point, even if the exact problems and solutions are not quite clear. Although the Animal Control department has done as good a job as any other department in trimming expenses – and they’ve all done a pretty good job as further analysis has found – one part, the food budget, has nearly run out, with more than half the year left. This budgeting shortfall has cast the problem in a stark light while still providing no clear answers. There are some possible solutions; however some of them rely on a better understanding of how the problem came to be, in the first place.

According to Chief Rickey Crook, of the Cherokee Village Police Department, which includes Cherokee Village Animal Control, one of the main problems is that CVAC has recently been receiving more stray pets than in previous years. According to Chief Crook, this is likely due to “A lot of people that are barely getting by and have some animals, are cutting their expenses by just letting their animals go and not taking care of them, setting them free to fend for themselves”. Compounding that problem is another one, Chief Crook continues, where “a lot of people are dumping them off at Animal Control hoping they’ll be well taken care of.”

Whatever the cause, the high numbers of pets being dumped at Cherokee Village Animal Control – combined with the low number of adoptions – will inevitably result in ever-increasing numbers of dogs and cats being euthanized, and more quickly. When a dog comes to Animal Control now, it usually has at least a week before it is put down. According to Chief Crook, however, some members of the City Council have been pushing to reduce the time to the state-mandated five day minimum, at which point the stray animals will be killed. Although this would help the food budget problem somewhat, it seems the least-desirable solution – especially when it does nothing to address the actual cause of the problem.

When discussing this problem with Councilwoman Verna Mae Newman, it seemed that the ‘animal dumping’ near CVAC by non-residents, as cited by Chief Crook, is fairly evident; both Newman and Crook believe that residents of neighboring cities are dumping unwanted pets at Cherokee Village’s Animal Control because it’s the only Animal Control nearby. This results in the city of Cherokee Village bearing the costs of dealing with stray animals in other cities, effectively “free of charge” to those cities. According to Newman, cameras have been installed at Animal Control to try to deter or catch would-be animal-dumpers.

For full article see:
http://myspringriver.com/2011/06/23/new-dog-park-proposed-for-c-v/