Terry Baver | The Register-Herald
BROOKVILLE — Police chief Doug Jerome advised council his officers are no longer picking up stray dogs.
Jerome said refraining from picking up the dogs is not something they want to do. He said there is no place to keep the dogs after his officers pick them up.
“We get calls and I want people to be aware we are not being lazy,” Jerome said.
“When you call about a stay dog we are not coming and neither is anyone from the animal resource center,” Jerome continued.
The reason the police are no longer responding to stray dog calls is the the Montgomery County Animal Resource Center, located at 6790 Webster St., in Vandalia, doesn’t have any available space to house the dogs.
“They are full again, even to the point, when they get a call about a dog bite, chances are they are not coming,” Jerome said of the animal resource center.
Jerome said the police department “will not take any stay dogs because if we take them, we are fully responsible for those dogs.”
“We’re not going to do that,” Jerome said.
Jerome suggested if residents find a stray dog, keep it in a fenced-in area and the police department will post a photograph of the dog on Facebook in an attempt to see if the dog has an owner.
“We are being very successful with that,” Jerome said.
The animal resource center also suggests temporarily keeping the dog and do the following:
• if the dog has a dog license tag, look up the tag number on the Montgomery County auditor’s website or call the animal resource center at (937) 898-4457 for the owner’s information.
• if the dog doesn’t have a license tag, contact a local veterinarian, police department or the animal resource center to scan the dog for a microchip.
• if the dog has a rabies tag, call the Dayton and Montgomery County Public Health Department at (937) 225-4460 for help in identifying the owner and to learn the owner’s location.
Go to https://mcanimals.org or call the animal resource center for more information.
Reach Terry Baver at [email protected].
