LAFAYETTE, Ga. -- Stephen Thompson, who has openly criticized Walker County’s handling of stray animals, said the county needs to adopt a five-dog limit on pet owners.

The lack of such an ordinance, Thompson said, is “making the supply of dogs exorbitant.”

“You only need a license if you are planning on selling,” Thompson said.

“Without restrictions on the number of dogs, the euthanasia rate is what it is, a slaughter of 150 dogs per week at the Walker County animal shelter,” Thompson said.

Commissioner Bebe Heiskell said she’s willing to look at such a measure, but it must be feasible and it must have public support.

“I am working with groups right now and we are looking at making changes,” Heiskell said, referring to recent talks with animals rights citizens.

A five-dog limit, she said, does not seem to have public support.

“I have got to find a happy medium …. ,” she said. “… I have got to do what’s right, but I need to find a way to be legally satisfactory to the community I serve.”

“It’s a very difficult situation we are dealing with,” Heiskell said.

Are current regulations enough?

“I am not in favor of putting a limit on the number of dogs that people have,” Walker County animal shelter director Alison Smith said. “I am in favor of people becoming more compliant, people becoming more responsible, people more aware of the greater need.

“If people complied with the present laws,” she said, “we would have no need to make others, and this shelter could close down because the county would have no need for an animal control facility.

“There is not compliance, by the community, of the rules that have been established for animal welfare. The laws work, if the pet owners comply,” Smith said.

Smith said it only takes complaints from two neighbors to initiate action against a pet owner.

There are also state laws that must be followed, Smith said. For example, if a pet owner is breeding 10 or more dogs, then the state requires the owner to have a kennel license, Smith said.

According to Smith, animals that are collared and tagged have a greater chance of being placed back in the home than ones running loose and with ID. Spaying and neutering is still a strong solution, she said.

“There is no such thing as a stray animal. If that animal is in your care for five days, it is your animal and your responsibility to place that animal, to put that animal down, or to assume responsibility for it,” Smith said. “If it (the animal) runs out in front of someone and they wreck, then you are liable. If it bites somebody, you’re liable. And if you don’t want that liability, then you must assume the responsibility or place it.”

Costs of implementing a five-dog limit must be considered, Smith said.

“The more rules you have, the more it requires manpower to enforce,” she said.

The shelter has three animal control officers.

“So we are going to ask for more taxes to hire more animal control officers to supervise this county and the number of animals they have?” she asked. “That’s not fair and it is not fair to the people who are responsible pet owners.”

Chief animal control officer Curtis Patterson strongly disagrees with Thompson’s claim about the number of dogs being euthanized at the shelter.

“I would say, on the top week, 30 to maybe 40 dogs are euthanized,” Patterson said.

Most of the dogs euthanized are feral, he said, while most of the normal dogs are adopted.

Do other counties have five-dog limit?

According to Catoosa County animal control division shelter director Darla Proctor, Catoosa has a five-dog-per-property limit. The limit keeps down “hoarders,” which is the collection and mistreatment of a large numbers of dogs, she said.

“We rely heavily on it (the five-dog limit),” Proctor said.

According to Dade County clerk Don Townsend, Dade does not have such an ordinance.

According to Chattooga County clerk Martha Tucker, Chattooga does not have the five dog limit. “We are looking into that for the future, but nothing as of right now,” Tucker said.

Smith maintains that counties like Catoosa have the limit on animals due to the smaller amount of acres, as compared to a larger and more rural Walker County.