Todd County Fiscal Court has a draft of a vicious animal ordinance in hand and could vote on the measure as soon as its next meeting.
Todd County Attorney Jeff Traughber drafted the ordinance at the request of Animal Control Officer Jamie Addison and Traughber says it lays out seven criteria that can be used to classify a roaming dog or other animal as ‘vicious.’
The parameters include unprovoked bites to humans or other domestic animals and unprovoked animals acting in a terrorizing manner toward a person in a place outside of its owner’s property.
A dog would not be classified as vicious if it bites, attacks or menaces a person or other animal while protecting its owner from an assault.
Traughber says the ordinance would be complaint driven and it would be his duty to investigate any evidence that an animal is vicious when a citizen files a report.
He says there are ongoing complaints of vicious animals in Todd County and the ordinance would give an avenue to address those issues, if there’s evidence to support the complaints.
Owners of vicious animals could be cited for amounts between 25 and 250 dollars and could potentially face up to 90 days in jail.
Judge-Executive Todd Mansfield told magistrates to look over the ordinance for two weeks and it could be on the August 23 agenda for first reading.
In other action, Todd Fiscal Court approved the annual service contract with the Christian County Animal Shelter to accept stray animals for a flat fee of $8,500.
Judge Mansfield urged the community to continue praying for County Clerk Leslie Cunningham, who is battling advanced breast cancer. He praised Deputy Clerk Cindy O’Bryan and the rest of the staff for their work to keep the office going while Cunningham has been receiving treatment.