By Gary Corsair
Staff Writer
Two vicious dog attacks in the past eight weeks have Clay County officials moving toward establishing a staffed animal control department.
“We see that change needs to be made, so that is what is being done,” county leaders replied in a statement when asked if county commissioners will vote to implement an animal control department.
The statement was provided by Clay County Interim Health Director Clarissa Rogers, who was authorized by county manager Debbie Mauney to respond after the Clay County Progress asked county commission chairman Rob Peck to comment.
Dana Heidbreder, who was attacked by two dogs in May, is anxious to see what changes will be made by a county that moved animal control from the sheriff’s department to the health department in October 2018.
“I want Clay County to create stronger animal laws and until then enforce the ones we have to support our residents and visitors’ right to safety,” Heidbreder told the Clay County Progress.
County officials say they hear Heidbreder’s concerns and are taking decisive action.
According to a statement from the county, “Commissioners have already worked closely with local leadership to initiate a move of animal control services to the sheriffs department. The commissioners, as well as the health department interim director and local law enforcement, are already reviewing the county ordinance for areas of potential improvement and positive mitigation.”
Commissioners approved moving animal control to the sheriffs department at a June 16 budget meeting.
The board says it has “a strategic plan to integrate a collaborative work plan” to transition to the sheriff. That plan allows the sheriff to “hire and assign an officer to support this position, solely for this purpose.”
Last week, Sheriff Bobby Deese said, “I was asked by the county a few months ago to let them know what we would need to assume animal control duties again. I put together a basic list of what we would need to be able to take over those duties but haven’t heard back from them other than asking if we would do animal control during the absence of their animal control officer.”
Heidbreder, who says she is still recovering physically and emotionally, is adamant that Clay County needs to take it more seriously.
“I want Clay County to be a leader in western North Carolina by creating a true animal control department with their own facility, staff and dedicated animal control officers,” Heidbreder said. “I want these officers to work proactively in our community to prevent dog attacks and roaming nuisance dogs, respond swiftly to reports of aggressive dog behavior, enforce the laws on the books and support responsible dog ownership.”
According to health department statistics, dogs bit humans 84 times in Clay County since 2019.
County records show that less than a fourth of the 84 attacks — just 24 percent or 20.16 bites — were unprovoked. Of the 20.16 unprovoked attacks, 60 percent of the dogs associated with an unprovoked attack were surrendered or euthanized after the bite.
The remaining 63.84 attacks — 68 percent of the 84 bites — were primarily: bites to owners feeding or separating dogs; bites to individuals who were trying to assist an injured dog and bites in home to visitors trying to pet/play with the dog.
Eight percent of the 84 bites were classified as other.
Of the 84 bites, most, 37 percent, were committed by other breeds. Pit/pit mix breeds were responsible for 27 percent of the bites, mixed breed or unknown breeds 24 percent, German shepherds six percent and Aussies six percent.
Heidbreder hopes county leaders will go the extra mile as they consider options. If she had her way, the county would “form a committee that includes residents to research the best animal control departments in North Carolina or neighboring states and create a plan to fund and build our own true animal control department.”
Finding funds for animal control would surely be a challenge. Sheriff Deese said he was understaffed before commissioners moved nuisance animals to his department.
Animal control departments — even modest ones — are costly.
According to the statement from the county, “For a fully functional animal control center you would have to factor in salary, fringe and benefits for staffing, cost of general supplies and maintenance, fees for heating and air and other expenses for DVM services, etc. It would also be pertinent to mention that those would be continual annual costs, while not including the initial cost of building a facility that met all required standards.”
Until money is found to cover costs, Clay County will rely on the sheriff to provide an officer to administer animal control while continuing to work with Valley River for placement of animals when needed.
According to the statement from the county, “At this time, we will be working more aggressively to apply our ordinance and general statutes while holding violators accountable. The goal is to work as a multi-disciplinary team between health and law enforcement in a cost conservative manner without being conservative with the services provided.”
Heidbreder wants the county’s aggressive approach to extend well beyond making do with limited resources.
“Our state elected officials have offered support. They have teams of people who work for them. If all of our elected officials worked together, we could quickly identify the best county animal control departments to study and make a plan that builds on their success,” Heidbreder said. “It’s time to embrace all that our beautiful county offers, provide safety to our citizens and give dogs their best lives while we are at it.”