Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 13, 1994 TAG: 9404130049
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JAN VERTEFEUILLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The board did not act on a suggestion by the lone dissenter, Supervisor Harry Nickens, to put some money into public education advocating the spaying and neutering of pets.
Under the new ordinance, county cats will still be allowed to roam free. But cats - and dogs, too - now have to go home to use the bathroom, make noise or bother people. Enforcement, supervisors conceded, will be difficult. They did not add funding for additional animal control officers or increase that department's budget to deal with cat complaints.
County residents, other than those living in agricultural areas, can have no more than six cats - only two of which can be fertile. People who currently own more than that number can keep their pets as long as they license all of them.
Chairman Lee Eddy said it's unlikely many people will buy the licenses - $5 for fixed cats, $10 for unaltered ones - but he agreed with the majority of the board that some provision needed to be on the books to address problem cats. The cost of the license for this year will be half price since the ordinance doesn't go into effect until July.
"This is a bad ordinance," Nickens said. "It doesn't do anything to correct the problem . . . Some time in the future, I hope we'll deal with this in a more proactive, enlightened process."
Nickens wanted to use fees the county receives from people who pick up their impounded pets to pay for spaying and neutering. Other supervisors agreed that was a good idea, but the proposal didn't get acted on when it came time to vote.
"We're having to pay to kill them every day, every single day," Supervisor Fuzzy Minnix said. The county contracts with the SPCA to shelter and euthanize animals that are picked up by animal control.
An animal control officer must catch a cat in the process of violating the new ordinance to charge an owner with allowing a pet to be a public nuisance. Along with cats, all domesticated animals are included in the nuisance part of the law. That means the owners of horses that defecate while being ridden on county roads can be fined if they don't clean it up, Nickens pointed out.
Supervisors were reluctant to increase the county budget to pay for another animal control officer to help deal with cat calls. Roanoke did not add officers when it passed a cat ordinance, they were told. Chief Animal Control Officer Ken Hogan noted that the city has six officers to cover 44 square miles, while the county has only four officers to cover 246 square miles.
Animal control officers - without enough staff to stake out cats under suspicion - will leave traps on complaining residents' property and take the cats caught to the SPCA shelter. Owners will have to pay to get them back. Hogan predicted the $18,500 the county now pays to the SPCA for animals not claimed by their owners will double.
Neighbors also can swear out warrants against the owners of cats bothering them, forcing the owner to appear in court to answer the charge, assistant county attorney Joseph Obenshain said.
One of the biggest animal problems - more than overpopulation - is pets running at large, veterinarian Steven Karras told the board. He said he sees the results every day - pets hit by cars or infected with deadly diseases by other pets.
Lela Spitz, an animal rights advocate who also spoke to the board, recommended requiring that animals in heat, at least, not be allowed to run at large. Her request was not acted on.
Memo: ***CORRECTION***