By Cole Wimberly
With the non-renewal of the contract with Centralia, Marion County’s new County and Community Committee sat down for the first time Monday night to discuss long and short-term solutions for dealing with dangerous dogs and dogs running at large in Marion County. Dr. Michael Douglas has reached out to multiple animal control and rescue facilities to hold the dogs.
“I’ve got a couple contacts with a couple different groups that might be able to house some of our animals in the short term and try to find rescue groups and shelters to adopt the animals out as we see fit,” Douglas said.
For three months, the facilities may be able to hold the dogs up to 14 days before being released. No decision was made on how to handle the dogs after the 14-day period. Douglas said the agreement to provide dogs with 15 runs would only be available for 90 days.
For longer-term plans, the committee will re-contact the city managers of Salem and Centralia to see if there is a way to work together to house the county’s dogs. The county board could look at providing money for expansion of the city facilities as part of any agreement. If there isn’t a way to work with the cities, the chair of the committee, Tracy Murray, says the county may need its own facility.
“Worst case scenario, we might have to renovate an existing building somewhere and make it a kennel,” Murray said. “Hopefully we’ve got a lot of cheaper options for the taxpayer that we can take care of before we go crazy with that.”
Dr. Douglas estimated if the county has to operate its own facility, construction is likely to cost $250,000 with a $150,000 yearly cost to operate the dog pound.
No decisions were made at the meeting, but the State’s Attorney was asked to draw up contracts for the temporary housing facilities. In addition to providing initial housing, Paws First Veterinarian has agreed to provide rabies shots to any dog picked up.
