By Rupert Howell
Margaret Eubanks of the Panola County Humane Society addressed Panola supervisors Monday seeking laws for enforcement of pet owner responsibility and more county financial participation including revisiting the idea of an animal shelter.

Eubanks said county laws could at least be similar when appropriate to City of Batesville laws and proclaimed it was time for Panola County to quit depending on Oxford and Memphis for help in dealing with unwanted animals.

Sheriff Dennis Darby commended the volunteer work of PCHS saying, “We get calls every day. . . We need to get something started,” Darby said of the nuisance issue continuing, “We need to get something going so we can enforce it.”

Eubanks commended the board for the recently approved “Vicious Dog Law,” that gives the sheriff’s department the tools to deal with with vicious dogs but indicated more laws are needed.
The sheriff earlier referred to “no fun,” getting, “three calls on the same dog in somebody’s garbage,” while mentioning there was no law broken.

Panola County currently sends the PCHS $2,500 per year but spay, neutering and medical costs have exceeded $4,000 for one month Eubanks recalled.

Local volunteers (10 to 15 Eubanks says) have fostered dogs to be sent from Memphis to locations in the Northeast where they can be permanently adopted. Eubanks explained that certification for the dogs is costly in that they must be spayed, neutered, vaccinated and socialized.

Some of the animals are also accepted by the Oxford-Lafayette Humane Shelter. Eubanks noted an event, the “Liberty Hill Issue”, where a resident had 42 dogs with no proof of vaccinations.

“There is no way these dogs received adequate food, water or shelter,” Eubanks stated while adding that none of the dogs was spayed or neutered.

 “Yet she broke no laws because there are  none,” she said.

According to Eubanks’ prepared statements, a court order was signed for removal of the animals after the resident relocated. PCHS was contacted but had  no shelter and all foster support was full. Oxford Humane Society took nine of the dogs but rescue groups outside of the county assisted with time, expenses and finding foster homes for the remainder of the animals.

Accompanied by other PCHS volunteers and supporters, Eubanks said the group was growing and willing to start a petition drive to send a clear message to local officials.

The PCHS volunteer also called for a limit to number of dogs per household with exceptions made for acceptable purposes.

Other suggestions made included re-visiting the shelter issue with possibility of fines derived from specific laws going toward its maintenance and costs, low cost spay and neutering programs and partnering with citizens to find resolution and fairness for all property owners, including those who do not own pets.

Supervisors have previously discussed adapting a county-owned building on Wilson Road for use as an animal shelter, but that proposal has not recently been discussed at supervisors’ meetings.

The city of Batesville has an animal pound and the sheriff’s department has six or eight pens used for vicious dogs.