Livingston Police Chief Ray Smith asked the Board of Aldermen Monday night to consider allocating funds in the upcoming budget to assist local animal rescue groups.
Smith said the groups have increasingly been helpful in assisting police with the growing number of abandoned animals inside Livingston. Smith said Livingston currently operates without animal control, leaving law enforcement officers to rely heavily on volunteer rescue organizations to house and care for strays.
“So at this time we’re just asking to take under consideration to take this into a motion sometime or another into the budget or whatever to reallocate a little bit of funding for these rescues that help us with our great needs and that’s to take care of the animals that are abandoned or strays and help take care of that situation so that we’re not getting many a calls,” Smith said.
The police department recently had to find homes for six to eight animals at once, and local rescue groups stepped in to take them. Smith said the department would also ask the courts to reimburse the town through fines placed on individuals who have their animals taken away.
“We was in a bad way and called and they showed up,” Smith said. “And they took these animals we had.”
Smith said rescue groups spend over $250 just to start caring for a single animal, which includes feeding, worming, and spaying or neutering. Mayor Lori Elder Burnett said Livingston currently gives $1,000 annually to the SNIP Program, but described the amount as a drop in the bucket.
“When they take up an animal and the animal has nothing done, they’re spending over 250 bucks just the start of that child, that dog or that cat getting it took care of, getting it fed,” Smith said. “It is very expensive.”
One alderman said he wants the board to set aside money to address the issue, while another asked for the names of the rescue workers to make personal donations.
Smith said he knows of instances where over 20 cats were caught at one time, though he does not have the exact number of stray dogs the department handles annually.
“Because without the help of them, we have nowhere to put these animals, we have nowhere to take them and shove,” Smith said. “We can’t just take an animal there.”
Smith will gather data on the total number of animals the police department deals with in a year to present to the board.