First readings of spay/neuter and canine control ordinances scheduled

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princeton – A proposed county spay/neuter ordinance and canine control ordinance with goals of controlling the local homeless pet population are scheduled for first reading today before the Mercer County Commission.
A canine control ordinance's first reading is an early item on today's commission meeting agenda. This meeting begins at 10 a.m., at the Mercer County Courthouse.
County Commissioner Greg Puckett said this ordinance for canine control is a change in the current leash law.
'This helps clarify that dogs do not need to be tethered to be controlled,' he said.
The ordinance states that tethering or putting a dog on a leash is a form of control, but not the only way to control a dog, Puckett said. Keeping dogs behind a fence so they can't wander around a community is another way to control them.
Making the ways pet owners can keep their dogs under control clearer is a better way to address the county's animal issues, he said. In March, Matoaka residents spoke to the county commission about the problems they were having with stray dogs tearing into trash and harassing people.
'We've had these issues for decades,' Puckett said. 'We did have that public meeting and a lot of what came out of that public meeting was ways to solve a lot of these problems. I want to thank everybody who came out. The solutions that are being supported have come out of that public meeting. We want to thank the community and assure them that we heard them loud and clear.'
The canine control ordinance would include getting a county dog warden. Sheriff A.P. Christian said that under West Virginia Code 19-20-16, counties are authorized to hire dog warden. The sheriff's department would not be the agency hiring a warden.
The county has animal control officers, but their duties are focused on dogs and cats being treated inhumanely, Christian said. Dog wardens are authorized to pick up stray and unlicensed dogs that are roaming the county.
After the canine control ordinance's first reading, Puckett is scheduled to do the first reading a county spay/neuter ordinance. The county tried to institute a spay/neuter ordinance in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic.
The goal of passing an ordinance is to manage Mercer County's large population of homeless dogs and cats. Both last year and this year, the Mercer County Animal Shelter has declared Code Red situations whenever its facilities were too full, Puckett said. Code Red is declared when euthanasia may be considered to make more room.
In October 2024, the Furever Fixed low-cost spay/neuter clinic opened near the county animal shelter to help decrease the homeless pet population. The nonprofit clinic has been busy with both dogs and cats, said Director Connie Gillespie.
'Oh gosh yes,' Gillespie said. 'We had that dry spell when we were between veterinarians. We do have a full-time veterinarian now four days a week. We do have a waiting list that we are working on with still over 300.'
The spay/neuter clinic recently completed over 300 spays and neuters through the West Virginia Spay/Neuter Program with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Gillespie said. Since April 1, the program has helped pet owners from Mercer, Monroe, McDowell, Raleigh and Summers Counties. There are clients who do not show up for appointments, but the clinic also helps the neighboring animal shelter by doing spay and neuter procedures.
'We are nonprofit but we are not a government-run solution,' she said. 'Every animal that leaves our facility that is spayed or netuered has a certification of sterilization their owners can show landlords and anybody else that needs to know their animals are fixed.'
Farmers and hunters told the commission the last time a spay/neuter ordinance was proposed was that it would harm their work dogs and hunting dogs. Puckett said the proposed ordinance has variances for hunters, breeders and other owners that don't want to spay or neuter their dogs.
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