Animal Control in Cumberland County (Crossville, Sparta: city hall, transfer, live)

[upssnowman]

Flyinglead2, I'm also thinking of moving to the area, but I gotta say I'm not going there to try and change the way things are done , espically when I'm not even there yet, If your not from the South you might wanna think about moving to the South a bit before moving there.
Not meaning to be a smart guy just my honest thoughts, a lot of folks move to an area and say this or that should be done this way thats not how it works?

[2mares]

Im going to second everything you have already been told.

I understand that there also is a Rabies problem in the area.

That more animals will get vaccinated against Rabies, which, in time will slow the rate that Rabies is being spread. Thus cutting down on the Rabies problem that currently exists

Again what "problem"? Every year the counties hold a rabies vac. clinic where one can have their animal vac. for $10.00. It is a law that animals receive a YEARLY rabies vac. Many vets also hold a rabies day in their parking lots. The humane society in Cookeville require a rabies when having an animal fixed. Rabie shots are registered so an animal with a tag can be traced to the owner.

Let me ask.....in counties where there is no animal control, what happens to "stray" dogs and cat? Do they just stay stray to free and reproduce?

Most ppl finding a stray will try to find the owner. I cant count how many dogs I have helped home (2 this yr.). Its not that hard. Call the shelter to see if anyone is looking for their pet. Place an add in the paper. Put up flyers. Talk to friends and neighbors. If an animal is not claimed a home is often found or it is taken to one of the shelters or shot.

For those who don't have an Animal Control department......are you happy without one? IF you are not happy without one and you had one....what would you want from that department?

When I lived in town the animal control was basically someone with an authority complex that like to harrass citizens. I would like to see an animal control department that actually investegated animal abuse and saw to it suffering animals were removed from their situation.

Its my understanding Sparta did not pass the BSL. The concerned citizens were capable of speaking for themselves and making their wishes known.

Is it not worth a few dollars per dog owner to help stop all the killing???

Personally, I feel I am responsible for my own pets. I have currently 4 dogs and 2 cats. They are all spayed/neutered, get yearly vacs. including rabies. On top of that I have goats, chickens and horses. It all gets expensive, but I love animals. I do what I can to help strays and shelter and try to encourage people to spay/neuter. If the gov. stepped in charging me for a license for each animal I could not afford to keep them let alone take in any more stray dogs and cats. 99% of the animals I've had were rescues. I would rather see tax $ go directly to organizations like the human society spay/neuter clinics offering free and reduced procedures.

[Flyinglead2]

Yarddawg.......

Ok......thanks for your last try. I was hoping to get opinions from more than one person anyway.

However....let me clear up some FACTS for you:

1. RABIES IS CONTAGIOUS AND IT IS 100% DEADLY!! Rabies IS transmitted from just about any mammal to any mammal. Rabid skunk bites dog, dog gets Rabies (guaranteed!). That, now rabid dog bites another dog, cat, or HUMAN and that dog, cat or HUMAN gets Rabies - Guaranteed! You are wrong about dog to dog transmission. Dogs and cats and ferrets are the highest carriers of Rabies among domestic animals. And IF you happen to be around a rabid bat....say you find a dead bat in your home in the morning. There is no way to tell if it bit you while you were sleeping......the bite marks are too small. IF you don't get the post exposure vaccines, you will DIE of the virus. The vaccines are not as bad as they used to be but still not all that much fun to have to go through. If you keep your domestic animals vaccinated, it helps to keep Rabies from spreading even within the wild animal community.

Bait food drops etc don't work......yet. There is not enough known about how Rabies acts in wild animals to know how or if a vaccine will work in wild animals. There just is not enough research on the subject yet. Some day they might work, but today is not the day. However....This research IS done with YOUR tax dollars. I actually never mentioned spending money on this type of program as it's not cost effective but, since you brought it up..... Let me ask you.....if the TWRA has been trying bait food for years and it hasn't worked....why not try something else?

2. AIDS in not 100% deadly......anymore. There have been and will continue to be survivors. I know first hand, my sister is one. However....IF you knew someone with AIDS, would you share bodily fluids with them, share a glass, silverware, plates etc. I doubt it. Let me ask you.....will you get a flu shot this fall, or how about a vaccine against the Swine (H1N1) flu, or do you know someone who will? I bet you do/will even if you won't admit it. Why would you fight doing what you can to lower your risk of a virus that is 100% deadly if you get it, especially when the cost is low?

3. How hypocritical is it to say: "You are responsible for the safety of your own animals." Just where do stray and feral dogs and cats come from? They aren't wild animals, so they MUST have been born to an OWNED domestic animal. How responsible are the owners that DUMP their puppies and kittens on someone else's farm (don't tell me it doesn't happen in Cumberland County...because your shelters are FULL of stray cats....and who knows what happens to the ferals.) Or how responsible was the person who dumped their puppies or kittens in the woods to become feral and breed and breed and breed....creating even more unwanted animals in your county? All those people needed to do was get their pet altered, but they were too irresponsible to do it. So....NOW...there are strays and ferals running all over the place (in easy contact with skunks.) And you can't tell a cat or dog has contageous Rabies in the first 4 or 5 days....they can act and look healthy, even friendly. So.......just how many of you who are adamatly against any type of licensing and protection for your domestic animals is responsbile enough to care properly for your OWN pets by getting them vaccinated AND altered?.....thus keeping from having to kill any or drop any of them off at a farm, in the woods, side of the street or shelter for someone ELSE to kill for you. Strays and ferals are littered all over your county and hundreds of thousands are dying an early horrible death by wildlife, cars or (at least humanely) in shelters, so owner who is supposed to be responsible for their own pet's safety, is dropping the ball.

4. You say...... " Locals mostly don't even question it, it's just the way it's always been.". Funny, we also used to use wood stoves to cook, buckets to carry water, walked then used horses etc to travel and even used outhouses for those times of relief. Do we still RELY on these methods of lifestyle? But it's always been that way? Perhaps, rather than just balk at the subject, the locals should actually try to pay attention and think about new proposals, THEN create an opinion based on the facts rather than cop out on light progress because "it's just the way it's always been."

5. " In my county there have been several county government meetings where a newcomer would throw a histrionic fit because we have no animal control department, no shelter, etc." These people actually HAVE A POINT. They bring it up because it is NEEDED. Your tax money IS being spent on some kind of Animal Control, why not approve of limited regulations that actually MAKE a difference rather than waste that money as it is being wasted now? Most counties have an Animal Control Officer who brings animals in, holds them in a shelter, then ends up killing most of them. Your tax dollars are being spend on this vicious circle.......pay to catch the animal, pay to house it, pay to kill it. NOWHERE in this process is there a way to slow or stop the catching, housing and killing. Keeping ALL domestic animals vaccinated against Rabies helps keep the risk of Rabies against domestic animals and humans to a mininum. Spay/neuter clinics and TNR helps cut back on strays and feral animals to slow the vicious circle of catch, house and kill. Quite frankly, I'd rather my tax dollars were spend on a department that had a goal to reduce the spending of my tax dollars in that department rather than just keep spending. There are many towns and cities where limited means of Animal Control works and when the residents of the county show that they care, at least a little bit, donations can come in for extended care as needed. Two things.......IF things stay the same as they are....as they have always been, your unwanted animal population will soon become out of control. ("I've been to the shelters that exist....it's almost that way already.) The more stray and feral animals out there, the higher the risk of disease to humans (Mange, RABIES, Ringworm and the like.) no to mention injury itself.

6. I am not stupid......I know that there are much higher priorities......in the eyes of some.....and in my eyes as well than Animal Control. However, my experience is in this field not that of stimulating the economy, lowering unemployment etc. These are issues that are important but IF you can change some of your Animal Control protocol and spend your tax dollars better, or even not at all on Animal Control, why wouldn't you want to, at least look further into the possibilities?

Lastly......you mention "Locals" on several occasions in your response. The FACT is that more and more people from more progressive states are moving to Tennassee and to Cumberland County. Its a fact that neither you or anyone else can stop. At some point, the "locals" will be outnumbered (I know...sad but true.) and when one of the "newcommers" brings the subject up again, the majority (non-locals) will probably prevail. Non-locals who know how well their regulations work will want to live in an area with those same laws. I know a town where they are soooo regulated that they are not allowed to let their cats out of the house. There are NO free roaming cats there. Would YOU like to be THAT regulated?

Maybe instead of thinking things should just stay the way they've always been, locals to Cumberland County might want to actually listen and think about what others are saying. I am bringing ideas of LIMITED Animal Control regulations (and ways to fund progressive and successful Animal CONTROL programs.) at LIMITED COST to start getting some of the problems that exist under some semblance of control BEFORE the serious Animal Activists such as PETA members move into your county and bring their over regulating ideas that just may pass once the locals are outnumbered.

When that happens.....all I'll be able to say is......."I tried".

[Flyinglead2]

upssnowman.........I appreciate the comment. I have been there and I have been working for years with shelters in the TN, NC, OH and VA transporting their dumped animals up north where they find wonderful homes because (instead of being killed) our Animal Control programs work so well. We have a need for family friendly dogs as our spay/neuter programs are soo successful, we have very few here.

I do not and did not intend to move to TN or to Cumberland County in order to change their rules. My reasons were completly unrelated to Animal Control until a Shelter worker asked if I would be open to helping the animals in her county. All I did was put a post asking opinions on the subject. I don't believe I ever said that I was going there with the intentions to change their world and shove regulations on them.......I wanted to provide some suggestions for cutting or eliminating some of the problems and issues that I had been told about and have dealt with personally. I never had the intention to and will not arrive with a big stick to bash the residents of Cumberland County to believe in my ways. It would be nice if there were a few more open minds tho.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by Flyinglead2

It would be nice if there were a few more open minds tho.

It's been amusing to follow this thread. You asked a question, didn't like the responses, and then insinuated that those who don't agree with you don't have open minds.

Well it goes both ways. Those who move to Tennessee/Cumberland County need to have open minds, too, and realize that the way things are done "back home" isn't necessarily the way things should be done here.

[Flyinglead2]

2 Mares........

My apologies......I was told that there was a Rabies problem in the area. Perhaps there is not one. I will do the real research and find out. However.......your rabies vaccinations are NOT required every year according to several vets that I spoke to. (some in Cookville and some in Crossville.) apparently, your vet can decide whether your vaccine is good for a year or for three years.....The law says every year, but that is changing. (I asked each vet office I spoke with as well as a town representative about Rabies clinics and I was told that there weren't any clinics. So, I was not aware that there are clinics.)

The two shelters I visited had a HIGH majority of dogs and ALL of their cats come in without tags. Tags (even licenses) often don't help in identification. My reasons for licensing are not geared around identification.

The fact that you post signs and look so hard for a stray animal's owner is commendable. You are in the minority tho.....I have been in the field long enough (in enough different places.) to know that most people who find an animal don't and won't work that hard to find it's owner.

I recently visited two shelters in Cumberland County. One had probably close to 50 dogs in it (17 of them less than a week old.) and probably 20 or more cats. Most of the dogs had been there for a while and, if rescues in other states didn't take them, they would die by order of the shelter director......paid for by YOUR tax dollars. I find it hard to believe your statement that most strays find their owners. You say that if the person who found the stray can't find the owner, they take the animal to the shelter....EXACTLY my point.....the system lets you take the animal to the shelter where your tax dollars will house it where most of them will be killed...also paid for by your tax dollars....a system to never advance or progress. I'd consider it a WASTE of my tax dollars if I were you. Or the animal is shot. Well......THAT is archaic and cruel....and dangerous....how does a person who shoots someone a stray dispose of the body? I hightly doubt that it's burried even close to 3 or 4 feet deep in a safe place. I'm guessing it's left to rot on the ground where flies lay eggs on it creating millions of maggots creating millions of flies and who knows what kind of disease it creates. THAT is hardly a HUMANE answer to "what to do with a stray when you find it".

I'm not sure....but I don't think I EVER said anything about paying GOVERNMENT for licenses or even involving Govt what-so-ever. My thought was to take Animal Control OUT of Government all together. My suggestion would have been to privatize it with a not-for-profit organization a Board of Directors and input from any resident that would like to provide input. I am for NO to LOW regulations. At some point you'll HAVE to have some regulations. Why not start small and see what can be done with little control and MUCH less suffering and money being wasted in your shelters etc.

You may have experienced Animal Control as "someone with an authority complex that like to harrass citizens." But....REAL Animal Control....someone who really gives a damn about their job...the people and the animals who are involved can be much different from what you describe. But apparently nobody is even curious about change. You don't want Animal Control, but you do want someone to do something about the cruelty that is out there? Just how are they supposed to do that if there is no Animal Control and worse NO REAL laws to stop it. Most of the reason cruelty is not addressed is because it can't be. People won't allow for a change in the laws because they don't want to be regulated.....or becuase "that's the way it's always been", so the animals continue to be abused. One person's idea of cruelty is not the same as another's so unless there are well defined laws, you'll never get cruelty under control.

As far as BSL in Sparta. I read in a newspaper that the law WAS passed banning Pit Bulls and Bully Breed dogs. Apparently, I can't believe what I read in a local paper? I'll have to research that further as well, I guess.

Personally.........I don't believe that I ever said that you were not responsible for your own pets, but since you have been involved with rescue, I have a really hard time understanding how you can possibly believe that the majorty of pet owners are as responsbile as you describe becasue experience and all the work that PETA, The Humane Society of America, The HSUS and other huge organizations SHOWS me that they are not.

If' you'd like....take a trip to the Cumberland County Animal Shelter....take a look at the very sad and uncomfortable dog (among about 50 dogs there) that is sitting there covered with painful mange or a painful yeast infection. That dog is just waiting for it's time to be up (Miserable and hurting) so the shelter director can kill it because the residents of Cumberland County can't manage a way to get a dumped animal like that to the vet for minimal care. (In MY mind, 2Mares...THAT is WILLFUL CRUELTY and you guys just keep letting it happen....year after year after year. Because YOU don't want to pay a couple of dollars for a license or YOU turn your back the other way and pretend you don't know what's going on or because it's your "culture" because it's "always been that way". Well Michael Vick said it was in his "culture" to fight, hand and electrocute dogs. Well, I think that is a very sad parallel.) Please tell me WHO was the "responsible" owner that dumped that dog probably because it was sick and they didn't want to get minimal care for it. (It happens all the time everywhere.) Tell me why it HAD to be an out of towner who coughed up the cash to get that dog treated and will hopefully have it transported out of the shelter and into a new home where they DO care? Or why it has to be out of towners who transport and find homes for the majority of your strays because too many of the residents of Cumberland County can't take the responsibility for their own animals even though they SAY they do? I am glad you are a responsible pet owner, but you are in the minority across the country.......it's an epidemic all over.....it's too bad so many are so against LIMITED regulations at LIMITED cost to begin to cure that epidemic.

[Flyinglead2]

Ya....it's funny to follow the thread........I got the answer to my question and I can't said that I didn't have an open mind. You all have a right to be what you want to be. It just seems funny to me to be totally opposed to hearing more about ways to possibly create a better Animal Control program for the animals AND the residents possibly at less cost to you and in the same sentence you complain about how much money is being spent on an Animal Control program that has no chance of ever getting better, ever saving lives, ever controling disease and more ironically EVER saving the residents any money.

I never said I was going to do anything....all I did was ask a question regarding a way to start making the above happen. The answer is loud and clear........There is no room for growth or understanding........how "it's always been done" is the only way to do it.

[GaryWF]

The same problem exists in Dunlap, TN - just down the road from Crossville in Sequatchie County. The problem DOES need to be addressed at the city/town level (incorporated areas). The rural/county/unincorporated areas are a different story. The "shoot" philosphy is the only answer there. But definitely cities/towns need controls in place - and an animal control officer/shelter. Ignoring it is not the answer.

[GaryWF]

Change is also GOOD - and more need to be more openminded to it. Can't stay stuck in the last century forever!! Persistence does pay off, I know first hand in the town I live in. Sometimes it DOES take someone coming in to help facilitate change that's been ignored. Otherwise the towns will never move forward. Again, lack of animal control is a big problem in the cities/town in many of the less progressive areas of TN - not so much elsewhere.

[Flyinglead2]

JMT..........I thought I said....."It would be nice if there were a few more open minds tho." There has been NO ONE on this forum to even ask for further information. (perhaps what you might get for your licensing fee.) EVERYONE here has had negative comments and seems to think that as long as THEY are a responsible owner, all is fine. I knew there would be negative answers, but I HAD hoped that there would be a one or two who might, at least be interested in hearing more......

I have an open mind. I can leave you with your circle of wasted tax dollars on catching, houseing and killing companion animals and banning breeds because legislators don't understand them with no hope of improvement for anyone involved, IF that's the way you want it. I didn't want to get involved in Animal Control to begin with......but I said I'd offer some assistance when I was asked.

I had just hoped that there would have been more people who were curious as to how things might be better for the animals and the residents of the community. I don't quite understand why hoping for more open minds constitutes that I have a closed mind.