By MARIA POLLETTA
Cronkite News Service
KINGMAN – As Casey, a 12-year-old schnauzer-terrier mix, lounges on Betsy Senn’s lap, a poodle scuttles across the porch and two chihuahuas chase each other through the yard.
A plump gray cat stretches along a bench. One of Senn’s two potbellied pigs relaxes in the shade.
But the front gate leading to Senn’s home is padlocked, a black-and-orange “NO TRESPASSING” sign fastened to the wire. A thicket of trees blocks the yard and animals from view.
Senn has been wary of animal control showing up since the Mohave County Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance changing various rules for pet owners and kennels. One provision reduces the number of dogs allowed on an acre or less from four to two.
Senn said she doesn’t understand why supervisors are coming down so hard on dog owners.
“If you’re financially able to have 10 or 20, what should it matter to the county as long as they’re all being taken care of?” she said.
The two-dog limit, which the board approved Oct. 4, sparked such an outcry among Senn and other pet lovers that supervisors plan to change it back to four at their Nov. 1 meeting. Other provisions of the ordinance apply to kennel owners, including requiring roofs and flooring, and those will stand.
Tom Sockwell, a supervisor who voted for the ordinance, said more needs to be done to address frequent complaints about barking dogs and cases of animal hoarding and neglect. Sockwell, who is from Bullhead City, said pet owners can now expect the county to more diligently enforce the limit, which includes requiring those wanting more than four dogs to get a permit.
“It has to be done. We have to do something to make things better,” he said.
In 2009, animal control responded to 2,467 animal-related incidents, including complaints of animal neglect, barking dogs and bites, according to the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office. In the first half of this year, animal control responded to 2,425 incidents.
Lotti Benker, founder of the Kingman no-kill shelter Help Animals Lives Today, acknowledged that supervisors are trying to curtail animal abuse. But she said that mindset ultimately punishes the majority of loving pet owners for the behavior of an irresponsible few.
“There is an outcry that it is totally unfair, unrealistic and unjustifiable to place a limit on a whole community,” Benker said. “I find it rather arbitrary.”
Most residents don’t want any limits on pets, according to Kristal Gibson, manager of the Bullhead Regional Economic Development Authority and member of the research panel responsible for developing the ordinance. But Gibson said the county had to start somewhere.
“We’ve had death threats over this issue. No one wants to be controlled,” she said. “Unfortunately, you do need some guidelines. How can county officials hold abusive owners accountable with no ordinances on the books?”
In order to fashion the ordinance, the nine-member research panel spent about six months meeting with kennel owners, reviewing federal mandates on animal cruelty, speaking to the Humane Society and PETA and investigating ordinances in other states.
But Gibson said residents with more than four dogs don’t have to live in fear of their pets being taken away if neighbors don’t complain to animal control, something that she said comes down to proper care.
“If you love your animals, if you’ve taken excellent care, you feed them, no one’s complaining about them … you’ll never see a county person at your door,” she said. “Never.”
The ordinance also includes these rules for kennel owners:
-Roofing to protect animals from the elements.
-Concrete, sand or gravel flooring.
-Minimum kennel sizes.
-Room for animals to exercise.
-Separating sick animals from healthy ones.
-Daily waste removal.
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