County sets animal abuse, neglect policy

By Staff
Jason Cannon
The Franklin County Commission voted yesterday to adopt a plan to outline the investigation and prosecution of animal related issues.
Sheriff Larry Plott said all animal complaints in the county, not in the city limits should be called into the sheriff's office, who will begin proper investigative procedures.
"In the case of a dog bite, the deputies will make sure the dog is put up, away from other people and he'll conduct an investigation as to what may have prompted the bite," Plott said. "In the case of abuse or animal neglect, we'll send an investigator out and they will make an arrest. We will be making arrests in abuse cases."
Franklin County Probate Judge Barry Moore said the new policy is the county's effort to step in front of a problem that has begun to crop up in neighboring counties.
"With the price of hay being what it is, other counties have begun to see horses that are so underfed, they're almost sick," he said. "We already had a policy for dogs and cats but some of the larger animals weren't addressed. We don't get a lot of animal abuse cases, but we wanted to be aggressive in this problem before it starts."
The policy specifically notes that sheriff's deputies should be notified in "any act of animal cruelty, neglect of any type."
In other business, the commission voted to: