By GARY PINNELL

SEBRING — During the first two hours, Highlands County commissioners spent more than two hours talking about the needs of the animal control department, hiring more workers and building a new shelter.

A presentation from new Animal Control Director Darryl Scott showed the department took in 1,635 cats last year and euthanized 1,584; 1,732 dogs came in, and 1,261 were put down.

Veterinarian Mark Griffin reminded commissioners that the fault lies with Highlands County citizens who do not spay or neuter their pets, then turn them outside. A female cat and her kittens can multiply to 420,000 in seven years, according to researchers, one female dog and her pups can produce 62,000 puppies in six years.

Scott, who was hired six weeks ago, said Animal Control takes in adoptable cats and dogs, and moves those to the Humane Society. When the Humane Society gets an unadoptable pet, it gives them to Animal Control, where they are eventually destroyed.

Another problem, Griffin said, is large animals on five- to 10-acre ranchettes. The owners want an agriculture exemption for their land, so they buy farm animals, but the grass won’t support several horses and cows. The landowners realize it’s not profitable to keep the animals, but they refuse to buy high quality hay and grain for feed. Soon, the animals begin to starve, and Animal Control is called.

When a new livestock extension agent is hired, Griffin suggested having the agent educate the landowners on large animal nutrition. The county commissioners should establish minimal nutrition standards, he suggested, and adopt new ordinances to fine the landowner if necessary.
If those methods don’t work, the animals could be confiscated, Griffin said.

Commission Chairman Guy Maxcy was concerned about a Lake Placid case. Rosie Earp told the commission that a rottweiler belonging to a neighbor bit her Australian shepherd. Earp called Animal Control, and the rottweiler was taken to the pound after the owner agreed to give it up.

However, said Scott, the owner changed her mind two hours later, came to get the dog, and paid the fines. “It’s a bid situation.”
“I was told the dog would have to attack a human or kill my dog before I could do something,” Earp said.

“My concern now is that the dog is a bad dog,” Maxcy said. The dog’s owner is in jail, the Rottweiler has been moved somewhere else, and it could attack others.County Attorney Ross McBeth said the county has procedures to impound the dog, but Dr. Griffin replied that the dangerous dog hearing board hasn’t been convened in years.

Bonnie Johns said when she went to the shelter a few weeks ago to find her 11-year-old cat, she found kittens in the same pen with adult feral cats. “It was just awful,” she said.

County Administrator Carl Cool suggested two changes: adopted animals should be taken to the vets, where they will be spayed or neutered. At present, the rescued animal is given to the new owner, and some never have the animal fixed.

The second suggestion was to buy new animal traps, and allow complainants to take those traps to the location and bait them with food and water. If an animal is trapped, Animal Control would be called. That would save the time of the officer, who otherwise would be responsible for setting the trap and checking it each day. The county owns 20 traps.

When it was suggested that volunteers could also remove the animal from the trap, Assistant County Administrator Rick Helms interjected, “No. You do not want to even think about taking a feral cat out of a trap if you’re not trained to do it. It’s not a pretty sight.”
Commissioner Barbara Stewart suggested that the county may want to build more adoptable cat pens at the Humane Society instead.
The commissioners agreed to take up the proposals again in a few weeks.

Spending Cap

Maxcy and Commissioner Edgar Stokes have suggested the commissioners should consider a .5 to 1.5 mill property tax decrease. They preferred this to what the legislature and the governor are proposing.
Gov. Charlie Christ has suggested cuts totaling $7 million for Highlands County, the legislature would roll back ad valorem taxes to the 2000-01 level, costing the county $16.8 million annually.

Next week, the commissioners will go to Tallahassee for Highland s County Day at the Capitol. Cool suggested the commissioners tell representatives and senators, “You give us unfunded mandates all the time, and then you cut our taxes.”
“They’re balancing the budget on our backs,” agreed Maxcy.

Before the commissioners cut taxes, they should wait to see what the legislature will do, suggested Commissioner Edgar Stokes.

Mobile Home Park

The commissioners also spent an hour on a request by Colony Pointe residents. When their subdivision was formed, they were promised they could buy property. Instead, the subdivision was designated M2CS, for mobile home rentals.

They asked the commission to change the zoning or to take the matter to court. The commissioners refused, saying that even if the commission made a mistake 20 years ago, the current commission could not correct the zoning. A judge must do that.