“We’ve had horses, we’ve had cats, we’ve had snakes, a Serval cat, we’ve had turtles, we’ve had any animal you can imagine,” County Administrator Dave Gully said.
Warren County Dog Warden Nathan Harper asked the commissioners Tuesday to consider allowing his staff to officially handle these situations. Because his funding is tied to the sale of dog licenses, his staff is currently not supposed to deal with any animal other than the canine kind.
“I just want the ability to be able to respond if our assistance is needed,” Harper said. “More times than not we’re going to get called out anyway because we have the control pole, as opposed to getting down and putting your hands on it.”
He said he and his staff would need to take special training from the state in order to handle humane animal rescues. Ordinarily the sheriff responds first and if the situation is dangerous they have weapons to deal with it.
Gully had reservations about allowing Harper’s staff to handle humane rescues, especially because there are safety as well as liability issues. He said sheriff’s deputies have qualified immunity if they injure or kill an animal in these types of situations, because they are sworn officers. Dog wardens do not have that same immunity, he said.
“If Nathan’s people are going to do it, they have to be fully and properly trained, they have to be fully and properly equipped,” he said. “You can’t send dog wardens out to capture a mountain lion, and then have one of those guys get injured because they haven’t been properly trained or equipped.”
Commissioner Dave Young said they need to address the problem, which has been a daily issue according to Harper.
“Someone’s got to do something,” he said. “It’s either the cops and sheriffs go out there in every instance and shoot it, which is what they do,” he said. “I would say the most logical person to do something, absent hiring someone, would be our dog warden guys.”
The commissioners gave the green light for Gully, Harper and Sheriff Larry Sims to develop protocols for handling the wild animal situation.
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