Change in management brings change in animal control for Lowndes Co.
LOWNDES COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – A change in management is bringing about a change in animal control in Columbus and Lowndes County.
The city and county have had an interlocal agreement with the Columbus Lowndes Humane Society that had the Humane Society handling animal code-enforcement duties for both governments in exchange for the groups splitting the cost of that person’s salary.
After a recent change in leadership at the Humane Society, that group has decided that it no longer wants to shoulder that responsibility.
County leaders say it sort of resets policy to what it was before the agreement.
“The interlocal agreement is with the county, the city, and the Humane Society. Humane Society provides, for a fee, the housing of the animals caught from the county and the city. The county funds half of the Animal Control Officer under the umbrella of the city. Then the city hired an Animal Control Officer that falls under that umbrella, and the county has always had an Animal Control Officer that falls under the Sheriff’s Department, so now we’re back to that model again,” said Lowndes Co. Supervisors President Trip Hairston.
For the most part, Animal Control Officers deal with stray domestic animals, such as dogs and cats, and not nuisance animals, such as raccoons and rodents.
