Possible solutions to curb animal overpopulation discussed

WINDOW ROCK

Discussions on how to improve funding issues and how to manage animal overpopulation on the Navajo Nation were held on Tuesday.

The joint work session, between the Resources and Development Committee and the Law and Order Committee, discussed a bill (No. 0002-22) that would amend title 17 of the Navajo Nation Code to establish criminal penalties for vicious dog and other animal attacks.

Funding issues for animal control were also discussed during the work session.

According to the bill, 85% of the Animal Control Program’s time is taken up by dog bite injuries and incidents of livestock injuries from attacks by dogs and other animals.

The program has pleaded, on their website, for more funds to further address animal control issues.

The program said it is unable to provide services in areas such as the following:

• Aggressive law enforcement laws.
• Vaccinations.
• Livestock damage investigations.
• Animal-bite investigations.
• Quarantines.
• Adoptions.
• Pick-up of stray and unwanted animals.
• Dead animal disposal.
• Assisting with spay/neuter clinics.

Due to the lack of funding and the inability to provide these services, the program said over 3,000 individuals per year are treated for animal attacks and bites.

Kevin Gleason, manager of the animal control program, said the program currently has a staff of two field officers and is hiring more. He said the number of officers is not caused by lack of funding but is instead because people have retired or transferred to other programs.

‘A lot of strain and stress’

“Our base budget of $806,000 funds four kennel officers, five animal control officers, and two senior animal control officers,” Gleason said during the work session. “Currently in the original base budget, we have three vacancies for animal control … and we’re in the process of advertising those positions.”

He also said animal control received additional funding in the total of $765,785 from the president’s office which is funding six positions.

Right now, there are three new staff members in training and two other positions are going through background investigations.

“The issue we’re having with … background checks is it’s taking four to six weeks to get them cleared,” he said.

Animal control also received a one-time funding for 2022 in the total of $526,000 for four additional animal control officers. However, this funding ends in September.

Gleason said by the time these officers are done with their required training and background checks, it will be July so the program will only have these officers for four months.

He would like this one-time funding to be reoccurring because if they train these officers and lose them, it could have a big impact on the program.

“We have 110-plus communities with seven officers, it puts a lot of strain and stress on these officers,” Gleason said.

Altogether, animal control has a budget of $2 million for this year. Gleason said the program submitted an unmet need to the president’s office for $1.1 million for eight more officers and one more kennel officer.

“Last time I talked to them, they’re still reviewing it, seeing how they can help us and we’re just waiting to see if it’s going to get funded or not,” Gleason said.

Stray dog population

Regarding the stray dog population, Gleason said more than 10 years ago there was a number of 250,000 dogs across the Nation and the program believes that number is now up to half a million.

“We do have a lot of issues with irresponsible pet owners or even looking at what we allow households to keep which is four pets per household and we’re contemplating on changing that to two through Council,” he said. “There’s no limitation on working dogs that deal with ranches, sheep, or livestock.”

He said dog bites are still an issue and as of right now the Fort Defiance district is the worst that ranges from 20 to 30 calls a day.

“Right now, our best help is going to be to get all these staff on and trained so we can address more complaints per day,” Gleason said. “When you respond to a bite case or livestock damage, the serious stuff, it can take anywhere, depending on how severe it is, from an hour to all day for one case, it just depends on what goes on.”

Animal control is considered a civilian enforcement program, which means it cannot enforce criminal law, only civil law, according to Title 13. This means the program cannot criminally penalize anyone for dog and other animal attacks.

Gleason said the program is currently working with the Department of Personnel Management to get a principal animal control officer designation where an animal control officer would be a law enforcement officer who can enforce the criminal laws.

Along with this, the bill discussed during this work session would amend Title 17 of the Navajo Nation Code and define vicious dogs and other dangerous animals as a criminal offense and would establish penalties for incidents involving injury and death as a result of an attack by a dog or other animal.

The bill states that any person who owns an animal that causes injury or death may be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 30 to 365 days and/or be ordered to pay a fine with a minimum of $1,000 and a maximum of $5,000.

In case of injury or death, the convicted shall pay for any costs incurred by the victims or the deceased.

Information: dibb.nnols.org, No. 0002-22.

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