Housing and development are driving up the number of calls the Prince George’s County Animal Management Division receives about stray and injured animals and cruelty cases, a county official said Tuesday.
But animal control officer staffing levels in the evening hours have yet to catch up, said Division Chief Rodney Taylor. Until funds become available in July to hire additional staff, two animal control officers will juggle the usual dozen or so animal calls made by county residents each day between 3:30 p.m. and midnight. During the day shift, as many as six officers are on patrol.
“You can’t get to everything you want to with two officers,” Taylor said.
Some calls — injuries, extreme cruelty and vicious animal attacks — take precedence, he said. Other calls, such as dogs running loose or residents holding a stray, can get pushed back several hours, he said, or even until the next day.
Accokeek resident Stan Fetter said he played phone tag with the division over several days last year when tenants moved out of a Clinton rental house he owns and left two dogs tied in the yard.
Fetter said he feared the dogs had been abandoned but the division couldn’t even say when it could get to the issue.
“If the answer is that we can’t handle it for two days, fine, I don’t care,” Fetter said.
The tenants eventually returned for the dogs, but the whole experience left Fetter soured.
“They need to be responsive,” he said. “They need to realize they’re in a service position.”
Taylor said he wants to hire at least one new animal control officer this summer to staff the central part of the county, with additional new officers to come later. Starting salaries for new officers range from $28,000 to $30,000 a year, he said — a price that needs to be paid in a rapidly growing county.
“It really goes back to the development that’s going on in the county, the number of homes that are going in and the demand for services,” he said.
Animal control
» The Prince George’s County Animal Management Division has received 6,685 calls since the beginning of the year.
» Contact the division at 301-499-8300 for the following issues: animal cruelty, animal attacks, animals in traps, injured animals, stray animals, animal nuisance complaints, injured wildlife, and commercial inspections of pet stores, boarding kennels or horse facilities such as riding schools or stables.
» Contact the Prince George’s County police at either 911 or 301-333-4000 for animal issues such as dog bites.
