Tragedy
on the Horizon Without County Animal Control
By Mike Hendricks
Hill County Paw Pals, a non-profit 501(c)(3)
tax exempt corporation, is a grassroots group that organized three years ago working
towards two goals; 1) Facilitate installation
of a county animal control program and promote and contribute to building a county
animal shelter; and 2) Organize to challenge the overpopulation of unwanted companion
animals (dog and cats) with four programs working simultaneously–Education, Legislation,
Spay/Neuter, and Adoption (Project ELSA).
Pet overpopulation stems from one source—irresponsible
and misguided pet owners who allow their pets to roam and breed at will.
Starting from one pair of uncontrolled breeding dogs, in seven generations,
4,372 offspring can result! Two uncontrolled
breeding cats can produce 420,715 cats in this same period!
This implicit fact is compounded with the fact that communities and citizens
outside of Hillsboro and Whitney simply do not have a place to take unwanted dogs. Hill County’s pet overpopulation issue
will only worsen without our elected representatives’ intervention.
A county animal shelter will become the nucleus
for a much needed county animal control program.
Without an animal control program, our county’s pet overpopulation will continue
to go unchecked—allowing continual exposure to health, economic, legal and safety
liabilities (HELS) to the general public—especially our children.
Nearly everyone has a story that is related
to our county’s prevalent pet overpopulation issue.
The following is a factual story that could have been much worse and ties
together each of the mentioned existing liabilities.
Early one morning one of our grown cattle was attacked by a pack of “stray”
dogs. The cow’s face was completely
bloodied because of its two ears being chewed off along with its extensive injuries
to her mouth and nose. This cow fought
for its life! The cow had to be destroyed
because it could no longer eat with its disfigured mouth.
Dogs running in packs are dangerous not only to livestock but to our citizens. Imagine if a child were in the same
pasture instead of this cow. If this
pack of dogs didn’t fear a fighting 1,500 pound grown cow, would they have feared
a 40 pound frightened child? Our county
has all the ingredients for a future dog attack on one of our children—sadly, a
preventable situation. We as citizens
do not have to tolerate pet overpopulation because this situation can be simply
corrected but it will take a community along with our elected representatives to
initiate positive change. Animal control
is simply a necessary core service that tax payers expect.
Apathy promotes pet overpopulation .
Help us correct pet overpopulation with your involvement to install a county animal
control program by writing or calling your elected representative today (visit our
website for writing suggestions).
If you would like to become involved with
the efforts of Hill County Paw Pals to bring positive change to our county, please
call (254) 580-0679; email hcpawpals@yahoo.com;
write PO Box 1533, Hillsboro, Texas 76645.