THOMASVILLE- Thomas County Animal Services recently announced the addition of two new Animal Services officers under the helm of Captain Chuck McDonald.
McDonald was previously on the Dangerous Dogs Board at the Thomasville- Thomas County Humane Society, before being named Captain of Animal Services.
“I’ve been involved since September,” McDonald said. “I told the Sheriff that if it came down to it and they needed a sworn officer to secure warrants for animal cruelty and dog fighting, I wanted to be a part of it.”
His new recruits also have experience.
“I had about six years experience of working at the shelter doing intake and adoptions, but the animal control side is new to me,” said Blaine Spires.
Fellow officer Willie Cummings said he had one year of experience with animals, but like Spires the animal control side is something he has to learn.
Spires and Cummings both said since joining animal services one of the main issues they have seen is strays or the dumping of animals on rural roads where no one can get to them.
“We’ve had a few dangerous dogs, but most of them have been neglected or abandoned animals,” Spires explained.
As of now, all of the neglected and abandoned dogs, who are not microchipped, are being posted on the Thomas County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page. However, McDonald said moving forward, the shelter will have their own page where they will post found dogs, so owners know where to come.
McDonald said they have also dealt with quite a few dog bites.
“The first few months of the year we had quite a few dogs bites,” he said. “Fortunately, most of them were family or friends of the owner. We have had a few that were neighbors walking down the street that were bitten, though.”
In cases of neighbors being bitten, McDonald said he and his officers have to take a really close look and decide if they want to classify the dog as dangerous.
Both Spires and Cummings said none of these tasks have been overwhelming though.
McDonald explained over the past few years, the TCSO had been helping with animals in the road, especially livestock, so the chance to now deal with domestic pets comes natural.
Having worked on both sides, Spires takes her job seriously, especially when it comes to lost pets.
“I want to make sure I make an effort to ride through and look for it,” she said. “Even if I don’t see it, they know we are trying. Before the county took over, those people might not have gotten a call back.”
The need for officers as compassionate as Spires is growing, though.
While McDonald and his two officers are plenty for now, he does believe there will come a time in the near future where a third officer is needed.
“The county understands that and is willing to grow our department if needed,” McDonald said. “We just didn’t want to put too many people too soon, but if it gets overwhelming, we can do a budget adjustment and add a third person.”
McDonald does ask for patience, as it is a growing process. He said they are hopeful the shelter will be completed by December, with a temporary shelter expected in the next 60 days, where they can house strays.