I am so sick and tired of this.

[KittyTyme]

Dogs can go wild on the weekend
Incident with a stray at a funeral home sheds light on city, county policies.

By Richard Wilson

Staff Writer

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

HAMILTON — Concerns about animal control in the city surfaced when a stray pit bull wandered into a funeral home recently and no officer was dispatched to take the dog away.

The incident took place on a recent Saturday afternoon during an open house at the Webb-Noonan Funeral Home on Ross Avenue. Michael Ryan, the mayor's son, said he helped get the dog out of the building, then called emergency services to have an animal control officer come take the dog away.

The dispatcher told him to let the dog go because animal control only responds to emergencies during after hours and on the weekends, Ryan said.

"I felt terrible running the dog off back into the streets," Ryan said.

Animal control services have changed significantly after a $97,000 yearly contract wasn't renewed before it expired in September between the city of Hamilton and Butler County, said Butler County Dog Warden Lt. Julie Holmes.

On weekends or after hours in the city, an officer from the Dog Warden's office is dispatched now only if the dog is sick, injured or has bitten someone, and that is with a minimum $25 fee, Holmes said.

Hamilton's contract enabled the warden to assign one officer to the city, but now it's on a first come, first serve basis, Holmes said.

The contract also enabled animal control to provide wildlife services and mutual aid to the courts and assist police during search warrants and evictions, but not anymore, Holmes said.

Hamilton police Chief Neil Ferdelman said he understands the concern but the complaint was handled properly. He said the city has never had animal control 24/7, and that the county is responding to calls in the city even without the contract.
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In Hamilton, Butler County, there is NO SPCA. Only the "Humane" Society. Something better happen during "bankers hours" or you're screwed. Or you just let the animal run the street THEN if it gets hit by a car.. and you call SOMEONE (?) AND give them $25 MAYBE they will come and investigate! Or not.
What really pi**es me off is.. there are approximately 90K residences in Butler County. In 2006 we passed a one year tax levy to fund a NEW animal shelter. Here it is..2008 and the PLANS have NOT been drawn up yet!!!!!!!OH..actually the FINAL plans..the a**holes have spent hundreds of thousands of this ONE YEAR tax money on plans they decided NOT TO USE! City council can't agree. So..here our money is.. that we have ALREADY paid, animals being KILLED EVERYDAY because there isn't enough room for them, freezing in tiny cages in the winter..boiling in the summer (there's minimal heat and NO air conditioning in the present building) and we can't even get ONE friggin person to come out for a call on the weekend. I'm on the verge of hysteria on this.

[crispy]

I hear you Tammy, how frustrating it is when red tape and indecisiveness screw up what should be a simple solution. They had the money and now they are hemming and hawing and screwing around. And the worst part is, really, what the hell can you do about it? Unless you can actually get a job on city council your are done for. I find that all our bureaucrats are the same. Too many meetings and hemming and hawing and nothing gets done....but they still get paid. Go figure.

[LadyTalisman]

I've come to the conclusion that dogs must only go wandering mon - fri between 9 & 5 but never in the evening or week ends. (sarcasm)

It is ridiculous.

We had a similar situation a few years ago when during extreme high winds one night 2 dogs escaped from their own garden and ended up in our 2 miles away. After speaking to some one at the RSPCA we were advised to contact the local dog warden which we did and got no reply. It turned out there wasn't one available in our area in the evening or at weekends.

As we didn't know what these 2 would be like in the house or with Jake and didn't want to turn them out again we made them a big comfy bed out of a spare quilt and spare covers we had also we left the top part of the door open so theye could see some light and hear the radio which we left on for them. Also we left a note in our window incase the owners turned up when we had gone to bed.

The next day we put posters up in the park and later the 2 were returned to their owner.

It was so annoying that we could get NO help from any one and was advised to turn the dogs back out into the streets