From: Nancy Ray
Columbus
Recently, Columbus Animal Care Services (CACS) sent out a message to the public to remind people to protect their pets from cold, inclement weather. They advised that owners should provide adequate shelter and drinkable water for outdoor pets, plus keep dog houses dry to help canines maintain their body heat.
CACS updated their animal care ordinances in 2019, and one of the requirements of pet owners is to bring their pets into a temperature-controlled building when it is below 20 degrees. They also defined what constitutes adequate shelter for animals in extreme weather conditions, such as straw in the shelter in winter and shade in the hot summer months. Domesticated animals, especially short-haired breeds, do not have the same natural protection as wild animals do versus the severe cold temperatures. They require additional care and proper shelter when outside.
It’s sad that the county animals aren’t protected like the animals within Columbus city limits. The animal care regulations for the county that define minimum standards of care have not been updated since the 1980s. The current regulation states the owner must provide their animal with sufficient and wholesome food and water, protection from the weather and reasonable care. What constitutes sufficient protection from the weather can mean anything from a cardboard box to the ability to get beneath a car in the driveway the way the regulation is currently written. It makes no sense that animals within the city limits have enforceable, good regulations to protect them but the animals outside the city limits have inadequate, outdated ones.
The county commissioners have been asked several times to update these ordinances so that they are enforceable and the county animals are protected. They say “More laws aren’t necessary because people just break them. Look at all the inmates in our county jail.” So does that mean their answer is to have no laws because people just break them any way?
If you think the county animals should have the same protection and updated ordinances as the animals within the city limits, contact the county commissioners, Larry Kleinhenz, Carl Lienhoop and Tony London. You can also join the Change 4 Bartholomew County Animal Advocacy group at facebook.com/groups/change4barthcty/.
