A dogfight involving three canines brought to light a problem that’s been looming in Jefferson County’s smaller cities – a lack of animal control.
Byrnes Mill Police Chief Frank T. Selvaggio said a resident called his department in early May because three of her dogs got into a fight inside her house, and one of the dogs was severely injured.
Selvaggio said he called the Jefferson County Animal Resource Center, expecting staff would come to help. However, he was told the county no longer had a contract with Byrnes Mill to provide services to the city.
He said the resident ended up shooting the severely injured dog.
“The homeowner shot his own dog,” Selvaggio said. “It was bad.”
Selvaggio said police helped the homeowner get the other dogs into a vehicle so they could be taken to a veterinarian.
The chief said he was not aware the city’s contract with the county had expired, but it’s a problem.
“I do not have the training or equipment to be able to capture vicious dogs,” he said.
Jefferson County Services Director Eric Larson, whose department runs the Animal Resource Center, said the city’s contract with Byrnes Mill and every other city in the county expired at the end of 2021.
“They called us, but we don’t have a contract with them,” Larson said. “Because of that, it was hard to help them. In fact, with no contract in place, we had no jurisdiction to come into the city to answer the call.”
Larson said for years, Jefferson County contracted with municipalities for various animal control services.
“Most of the cities – Arnold, Crystal City, De Soto, Festus and Pevely – have their own animal control operations,” he said. “We had various contracts with them. Some we had contracts to euthanize animals, others to attend to injured dogs and many to provide after-hour services.”
Arnold’s contract, for instance, called for the county to examine and euthanize animals.
Arnold City Administrator Bryan Richison said the city hasn’t had a big problem since the contract with the county Animal Control expired.
“We haven’t used them much,” he said.
Richison said Arnold’s Animal Control Division typically reaches out to the Arnold Animal Hospital, rather than the county, if an animal in its care needs to be examined or euthanized.
Festus had a contract with the county to provide euthanasia but City Administrator Greg Camp said the lack of a new deal hasn’t affected the city much.
“We heard the county was going to do it (not renew contracts), but we don’t have a lot of euthanasia cases, which is a fortunate thing,” he said. “It doesn’t have much of an impact on us.”
Larson said county officials decided not to send out renewals last fall because the county could no longer provide any animal control services to cities.
“COVID took away almost all of our employees,” he said.
Before the pandemic, Larson said, his department had five full-time, certified Animal Control officers.
“Last fall, when it was time to send new contracts out for 2022 to the cities, we had only one officer,” Larson said. “We decided we couldn’t serve all of the incorporated areas, which we are entrusted to do, plus offer services to the cities. That (service to cities) has always been a courtesy. We are mandated to do animal control for unincorporated areas, but not to incorporated areas.”
He said he believes a combination of factors led to the thinning of the ranks.
“In my seven years here, we had Animal Control officers come and go, but we never had a problem filling a position in a timely fashion,” he said. “But after COVID, almost everybody left, and we’d advertise the openings for weeks – and got zero responses.
“Why is anybody’s guess. I think most of it was just the economy at the time. Some people just decided they didn’t want to work. And it’s a tough job in the best of times. I don’t think it’s the pay. We’re competitive with our neighbors.”
Starting pay for a county Animal Control officer is $15.76 per hour, with the top hourly wage $25 per hour.
Because of the lack of staffing, Larson said, the contracts with the cities were allowed to lapse.
“It was a surprise,” Richison said of the county ending its contract. “We never received an explanation. We were just told they would not renew the contract. It expired at the end of December. They typically send a renewal. They did not give us notice that the contract would not be renewed.”
Larson said the county did not send out notices that contract renewals would not be forthcoming.
“We didn’t send any contracts out to the cities last fall as we always have,” he said. “I’m sorry that the word didn’t get passed along.”
This year, Larson said, his department has hired two more Animal Control officers who are seeking certification and may add another experienced officer.
“We’d be fully staffed with seven, but once the two new hires gain their certification – it takes some training, not as much as a police officer, but you don’t want someone dealing with situations they’re not equipped to deal with – four will be a lot better than one.”
Larson said other than the Byrnes Mill incident, he has not fielded any significant complaints from cities about the lack of animal control services.
Larson said he hopes to extend contracts to cities again for 2023.
“I’m confident that we’ll be able to serve competently the cities we have served in the past,” he said. “Hopefully, we’ll be sending out new contracts this fall.”
In the meantime, Larson said, pet owners in cities that have no animal control department or a contract with another city that has one should take injured animals to a veterinarian.
“Veterinarians also can assist with euthanasia, if necessary, and disposal of a dead animal,” he said.
However, he said, those who live in unincorporated areas should be confident the county can provide animal control services as usual.
“We have the capacity to serve unincorporated areas as we always have,” he said.
Information for this story was provided by Leader reporters Katelyn Mary Skaggs and Tony Krausz.