After several months of bouncing between boards, an effort to reform Macon County’s animal control policies is finally gaining some traction with the Macon County Board of Health.
Local doctor and acupuncturist Tracey Dogan has been vocal with the county government this year about the need for a crackdown on animal abuse and neglect. Dogan has seen neighbors and other residents keeping pets in unsafe and unhealthy conditions and has consulted animal services about it, but she has found that their authority comes with unreasonable limits, such as asking that a complaint come with a name and phone number. She feels exposing those who make complaints opens them up to retaliation and makes people less likely to speak up when they see an animal in trouble.
“It’s hard to find these animals suffering because of the way these properties are set up,” Dogan said. “We can find these animals and do something about it.”
In anticipation of last week’s Board of Health meeting, Dogan enlisted support from John Baus, a retired judge and attorney. Citing Chapter 90 of the Macon County Code of Ordinances, Baus explained in a written statement submitted to the board that his legal understanding of the code was that animal control officers were required to take all tips seriously regardless of who makes them or how. In other words, if a complaint comes from an anonymous tipster, it’s still valid.
“Whenever an animal control officer observes or gets a report of animal cruelty, he is duty bound to investigate it,” reads Baus’ statement. “The ordinance makes no distinction concerning how the animal control officer might get the report, whether anonymously or not. The officer might even hear about the animal cruelty second or third hand, and if credible, would still need to investigate.”
Macon County attorney Eric Ridenour says any information collected as part of an animal services investigation will eventually become a matter of public record under the Freedom of Information Act. However, he also said that making that information available doesn’t need to conflict with the investigation – officers should be able to close the case beforehand.
“My personal presumption is that we can probably keep the name of the person making the complaint private until after the investigation is done,” Ridenour said.
Jimmy Villiard, Macon County’s animal services coordinator and a member of the committee set up in June to study the matter, said his department already responds to credible anonymous tips, but they are less likely to be the foundation of a functional court case. He did, however, suggest several reforms, including stricter standards for outdoor animal sheltering, owner penalties for animal surrenders, a county leash law and a multilayered citation system with progressive fines similar to what Buncombe County employs. Hopefully, this would give the department and its officers more leverage when dealing with animals in unsafe households.
“The goal is not to collect the money. The goal is the correction of the problem,” Villiard said. “The goal is to have some kind of enforcement so that they correct the issue.”
The Macon County Board of Commissioners will have final say on whether any of those ideas become law. The Board of Health will take a month to review the committee’s suggestions and reconvene to pass along a list of recommendations to the commissioners. Once everything is settled with them, the general public will have a chance to weigh in before a final vote is taken.
“We would present the commissioners with any recommendations that we have and then they would take the time to come up with their questions and do any research that they deem necessary and then also have a public comment,” Public Health Director Kathy McGaha said.
For more information on meetings of the Macon County Board of Health, call Macon County Public Health at 828-349-2081 or go online to www.maconnc.org/health-board.html