During the recession, the Animal Control Officer was one of the earlier positions eliminated to save money. We’ve relied on the Butler County Animal Control Officer for the past decade or so, but they generally only come to Middletown on specific complaints, so there was no ongoing, consistent, animal control in place for the past several years.
Our new Middletown Animal Control Officer started this month. We have re-established our relationship with the area shelters and all stray animals captured by the Animal Control Officer will be offered for adoption.
Given the lack of attention over the last decade to this issue, my guess is that it will likely take several years to thin out the stray cats, along with a now high population of urban raccoons and skunks. But we’re starting to put it all back together now.
Keep in mind that this also means we’ll be enforcing the animal control Ordinances of the city again. We’ll have dog running at large and no dog license cases, etc., starting to show up in court again. Please keep your dog properly licensed and on a leash when required.
If you have a dog bite or an aggressive dog running loose, call the MPD desk at 425-7700 to report the problem. Our new Officer will be working on stray dogs, feral cats, and urban wild animals. He’ll have plenty to do for the foreseeable future….