Board members: Current ordinance is enough

By Angie Thompson, Senior Reporter

TIFTON — Several Tift County commissioners say they support Animal Control director Regenia Wells' efforts to crack down on dog fighting but they can’t support the tethering amendment she wants them to add to the current animal control ordinance. Some commissioners believe the current ordinance is sufficient and another layer of “bureaucracy” is not needed.

The City of Tifton and the City of Omega have already adopted the amendment. The Ty Ty City Council is considering it but hasn’t voted officially on the matter. Tift County commissioners are expected to take a vote on the issue at their regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. Monday after tabling the agenda item for 30 days.

Wells, the director of the joint City of Tifton and Tift County animal control department, told city council members in September that she and some of her officers had recently picked up an emaciated bulldog that weighed 33 pounds and should have weighed between 60 and 80 pounds. She said the dog was wearing a 21-foot-long chain weighing 18 pounds around its neck.

“This happens all the time,” Wells said.

It is also believed that some dog owners use the heavy chains around dogs’ necks to build up the muscles they will use when they are fought.

Wells is requesting that a “Tethering Law” code section be added to the current animal control ordinance that reads, “A chain shall not be used to tether any animal unless the size and weight is approved in writing by the animal control director or her designee. Leashes made of cable, rope or leather with the appropriate swivels may be used. No animal on a tether shall be fitted with a choke collar or any other collar made of rope or chain unless such chain weighs less than two pounds.”

Commissioner Frankie Mathis said he didn’t believe that “adding another layer” to the ordinance would solve the dog fighting problem, some of which he knows exists in his district.

“I know some of the areas she (Wells) is trying to do this in, but it will be all in Tift County who have to abide by the law,” Mathis said.

Mathis said he believes the current leash law is sufficient and the addition of the tethering amendment to the ordinance would only anger some pet owners who live in the county because a lot of them don’t tie their animals up now.

“If you know where dog fighting is going on, let’s write them a ticket for animal cruelty...If I walked up and saw a dog with a choke collar on, I could write you up for cruelty to animals with the ordinance we have,” Mathis said.

Commissioner Robert Setters said he represents the largest rural district in the county and is a dog owner. He empathizes with Wells, he said, but he also believes the current ordinance is sufficient to handle cases of animal abuse and cruelty and he doesn’t “want to create bureaucracy.”

“My dog is on a chain and I don’t think I need to have to go through animal control for permission to use a chain. I think a dog ought to be on a leash, especially in town,” Setters said. “Dog fighting is illegal and I think we ought to arrest them and prosecute them, but don’t punish me and citizens who don’t fight dogs.”

To contact senior reporter Angie Thompson, call 382-4321.

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