Mayor lets strays out, draws yelps
Posted on Friday, June 13, 2008
Helena-West Helena Mayor James Valley, faced with continual complaints about inadequate shelter for stray dogs, made an executive decision this week: Let the dogs go free.
His decision, however, sparked an investigation and allegations that he broke the law by authorizing the release of eight to 10 dogs near a landfill and national forest.
Now he’s throwing his hands up and getting out of the animal control business altogether, at least for now.
“For now we’re not going to pick them up until we can figure somewhere to keep them. Our animal control officer, we’ll find some other stuff for him to do. He can work on potholes and clean alleys and ditches,” Valley said Thursday.
The U. S. Forest Service initiated an investigation Thursday after reading news reports that the city illegally released the dogs in the St. Francis National Forest, spokesman Tracy Farley said.
“It is against federal regulations to release animals, livestock or abandoned personal property on public land,” Farley said. “Right now, at this point, we’ve received some calls from concerned residents and read the article [in the Helena Daily World ]... and we’re just trying to find out what happened.”
The Associated Press on Thursday quoted Valley as saying that if the animal control officers get a call now, they would “pick the dog up and probably just take them to the other side of town. And it’s going to be someone else’s problem... or maybe they will take them to the forest.”
Valley said later Thursday that the animal control officer released the dogs Wednesday across the road from the national forest, near the landfill and outside the city limits.
After being informed of the law, Valley said, his plan is now to leave the stray dogs to fend for themselves in the city until he figures out another plan.
“The thinking was, they’re better off fending for themselves than being housed inappropriately,” Valley said.
The Arkansas director of the Humane Society of the United States, Desiree Bender, said Thursday that she has never heard of a municipality dumping animals.
“I’m sure it’s happened before by dog owners, but a city, no,” she said. “I can’t imagine a city, especially the mayor, doing this. It’s against the law.”
Martin Montorfano, a spokesman for the Humane Society of the United States said, “It’s more malfeasance than cruelty, but in any event, it’s not a good idea.”
According to Arkansas Code 5-62-101, “a person commits the offense of cruelty to animals if, except as authorized by law, he or she knowingly abandons any animal; subjects any animal to cruel mistreatment; subjects any animal in his or her custody to cruel neglect; or kills or injures any animal belonging to another without legal privilege or consent of the owner.”
Cruelty to animals is a class A misdemeanor.
The Arkansas State Police, as a general rule, does not investigate misdemeanors unless asked to by a circuit judge or prosecuting attorney, spokesman Bill Sadler said. Sadler said the Phillips County sheriff’s office could look into the matter if it wanted to.
Efforts to reach Sheriff Ronnie White failed Thursday night. No one answered the phone at his residence.
Bender said she would meet today with Valley and Phillips County Judge Don Gentry to help them come up with a solution and plan to resolve the animal issues.
Valley said he would meet with officials in Forrest City about a grant the city received to open an animal shelter there three years ago. He also said a resident is working to raise money to open a shelter to house strays from the city and Phillips County.
Bender also said she and others will try to find the released dogs and transfer them to shelters in central Arkansas.
The city has had its problems with the Humane Society in the past. After receiving complaints in January, the Humane Society of Southeast Arkansas popped the locks to the city’s animal shelter with wire cutters. Inside they found rats the size of puppies, dehydrated dogs and layers of feces, said Ruby Burton, director of the southeast Arkansas chapter in Monticello.
The mayor said the old shelter was basically a building with concrete floors and two doors. It lacked adequate space to separate male and female animals, among other problems, he added.
“It was a nightmare out there,” Burton recalled. “I told him if the city kept treating dogs like that, I’d have him arrested. He told me if I broke into another city building, he’d have me arrested. And we both told each other to kiss each other’s, well, you know.”
Burton said she found homes for some of the dogs at the time. She housed the rest at the city’s Sanitation Department.
Valley said that location was intended to be temporary, and animal-welfare activists began complaining that the dogs were being treated improperly there, too.
So, Wednesday, he told the animal control officer to take the healthy dogs and set them free near the city landfill, which lies across the road from the St. Francis National Forest. Three of the sick dogs were to be euthanized, Valley said.
Burton questioned why the mayor didn’t call the Humane Society, which she said would have gladly picked the dogs up, rather than releasing them to fend for themselves.
Valley said he didn’t call the organization “because they’re antagonistic to me.”
“I don’t have any friends at the Humane Society,” he said.
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