Abandoned animals

Stray dogs and cats are big problem in the county, but help could be on the way

Published Sunday, March 16, 2008

By Mandy Bourgeois

Darcy Gusse and her family received an unexpected present around Christmas in the form of three dogs.

The dogs - Mama and her two puppies, Gusse and Billie - were abandoned near the family's property along Heritage Creek Drive between New Fairview and Rhome.

Since then, she and her husband, Ken Tolbert, and daughter, MacKenzie, have been taking care of the three dogs, providing food, water, shelter and paying for visits to the vet.

"They were so full of worms when I found them," Darcy said of the puppies. "I didn't think they would make it through the night."

This is not the first stray animal the family has taken in. For months, the family housed a black lab they named Claude. He was recently adopted a by fisherman at a Texas lake.

The family has been lucky - the dogs they've taken in have been well-mannered and non-aggressive. But they aren't the only stray dogs in the area. In the 12 years that Darcy has lived in the area, she has noticed an increase in the stray dog population.

"There are so many dogs running around, wormy and malnourished," she said. "It's really a serious problem now. There have been about eight strays dumped on this street in a matter of months."

With the Wise County Animal Shelter closed since July 11, 2007, Darcy, and people living outside incorporated areas, no longer have a county facility to take unwanted dogs and cats.

"No one will take them," Darcy said. "It's such a problem in this county."

Shelter on the way

While still many months away, the county is working on plans for the new shelter. In January, the county commissioners approved a contract with Speed Fab Crete to design and build a new shelter for the county.

"Their form of construction is a little quicker," said Wise County Sheriff David Walker. "It does take a little while to get it all done, but now that the commissioners have a budget in place, hopefully by the end of this year we'll have a new animal shelter."

Walker said that the county is working with the Texas Department of Health to determine the number of runs needed to ensure the facility has adequate room. Speed Fab Crete has also been charged to design a facility for needed additions in the future as need for space increases. The facility will be located on the Sheriff's Posse Grounds south of Decatur on Farm Road 51.

Plans for recruiting volunteers and setting up an adoption policy are ongoing.

"There's a lot of things we're doing behind the scenes to get ready for this shelter," Walker said. "I know it's been a huge burden on the public. We're trying to get this thing up and running as quick as we can. We're trying every avenue we can, and we're going to push as hard as we can. We'll get a facility that we're proud of that we can get a lot of adoptions out of."

Right now, the county responds only to calls regarding vicious dogs.

In the meantime

As the county works on designing and constructing a facility, they have also looked at additional resources to address the stray dogs in the county. Walker considered hiring an outside animal control company to pick up and house stray dogs, but he found that it was not a cost effective option. The company quoted a charge of $75 a day for each dog picked up in the county.

"I think that's ridiculous, considering we only charge $40 a day for inmates," Walker said. "We averaged about 10 dogs a day when we were picking up stray dogs. For $75 a pop, if we did it five days straight, that's $3,750 per week."

Walker has contacted breed rescue groups, saying the county will turn stray dogs that fit with those specific breeds over to the rescue organization.

"Bridgeport and Decatur have been very gracious in allowing us to use their shelters if needed. The problem is, if we started picking up a bunch of strays today, we'd fill up their shelters in one day," Walker said.

Carol Ward with Bridgeport Animal Control said the shelter's nine dog runs and three cat cages are constantly occupied.

"This is a tiny shelter," Ward said. "We stay busy."

Bridgeport Animal Control serves those within the city limits only and Ward said she has received many calls since the county shelter closed regarding animals outside of her jurisdiction.

"Our policy is that I can only take dogs from within our city limits. There's no way I can handle the county's dogs. I don't know how the county did it with the small shelter before," Ward said.

The shelter is open 8 a.m.-6 p.m. seven days a week for adoptions.

"We could put down fewer dogs if people adopted from the shelter. More animals would have homes," Ward said.

Homeless dogs and cats can also be taken to the Humane Society of North Texas, but operations director Tammy Hawley warns that the organization could not possibly adopt every animal dropped off at the facility.

"We're getting over 100 dogs a day, and we're not even into the spring or our busy season. Most litters are produced in the spring. Also, when school gets out, people will go on vacation and release their pets. They feel like they are disposable, when they're really not. That adds to a busy spring and summer," Hawley said.

No appointment or fee is required and animals can be dropped off at 1804 E. Lancaster in Fort Worth from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. seven days a week.

While Decatur and Bridgeport have animal control services, other cities in Wise County relied on Wise County Animal Control. Rhome and Newark have contracted with companies for animal control.

Need for education

Darcy's concerns go beyond her sympathy for the homeless animals - she's worried about the harm they can inflict on pets and people. In fact, a group of three stray dogs attacked and killed a neighbor's llama earlier this year.

"It's not the dog's fault, it's irresponsible owners," Darcy said. "You can't blame dogs for being dogs. Someone raised them and someone didn't want them."

"Getting a shelter built is not going to solve the problem," she said. "People have to be educated."

The first reaction by shelter operators and veterinarians is encouraging sterilization of animals.

"We love puppies and kittens. We just want people who are producing puppies and kittens to be responsible," Hawley said. "We are faced with the facts that we see lots of puppies and kittens that don't have homes. It's hard for us - we are animal lovers. We just know there are too many of them."

"Education goes a long way. Education is the key to helping everybody," said Dr. Heidi Shipp at the Boyd Animal Hospital. "If we could educate the public on spaying and neutering, we could see a decrease. A lot of these stray dogs are not spayed or neutered and they are increasing the population. People find puppies wandering onto their place and bring them in. Education is the key to avoiding some the problems we have."

Dr. Joe Ables at Wise County Animal Clinic said that on average, a dog can produce two litters a year and can have between 10 and 15 puppies each litter. A cat can have three or four litters each year, producing eight to 10 cats per litter.

"The majority of these strays are not spayed or neutered and that just exacerbates the problem," Ables said.

Along with taking a dog or cat to the vet to be sterilized, the Texas Coalition for Animal Protection offers a low-cost spay and neuter program through clinics in Denton and now in Tarrant County.

"Even if you are a millionaire, you can take advantage of the TCAP program," Hawley said.

Visit the TCAP Web site at www.texasforthem.org or call (940) 566-5551 for more information.

The increasing number of free-roaming animals has veterinarians worried about the spread of rabies and other disease.

"My biggest concern is that stray animals are not getting vaccinated," Ables said. "When we vaccinate an animal, we're not just concerned about the animal. We're doing that to make sure that humans do not come in contact with rabies."

Ables said that, in speaking with Texas Animal Health Commission veterinarian Kenneth Waldrup, he learned that Wise County is a hot spot for rabies.

"That's the biggest thing that scares me," Ables said.

"(Unvaccinated dogs) are a big concern, especially if we have people's pets getting attacked and not knowing if they're vaccinated," Shipp said. "Parvo is also a big issue in this county. There are a lot of people who come through and don't know the risks of parvo or heartworms or the benefits of spaying and neutering."

Ables said he has noticed an increase in stray animals, as well as an increase in calls about stray animals, since the Wise County Animal Shelter closed.

"We've seen a lot of cats," Ables said. "People are going out to the country and dumping animals out."

"We get calls a lot - people have found a stray and they'll call us. We don't have much that we can do, we don't have the resources," Shipp said. "Sometimes we'll have people call and say their dog has been attacked by another dog and they can't catch it. We had a cat the other day that had been attacked by a pack of dogs. If the county can get some kind of animal control facility, we could get some officers out to help with the problem."