Moore County Animal Operations director says officer justified in shooting five sick dogs
NORTH CAROLINA -- A Moore County animal control officer acted properly when he shot five dogs that were sick and couldn't be caught, the county's animal operations director said today.
Lynn Stickel, a Whispering Pines resident, asked county commissioners during their meeting Tuesday to look into the shooting at the home of John Hines in the Jackson Hamlet community. She said the animals had been neglected, but were not a threat to the public.
"The officer shot five dogs because he was having difficulty catching them, and it was the easy solution," Stickel said.
Al Carter, the county's animal operations director, said Animal Control Officer Frank Ringelberg made the right call. A county report on the May 7 incident said the dogs had contagious mange with extreme hair loss and bleeding cracks in their skin.
"They were really sick dogs," Carter said.
The owner had voluntarily surrendered the dogs Ringelberg shot, Carter said.
Carter said Ringelberg caught two dogs and tried to catch the other five. The officer put out traps with dog food, but cats in the area kept going in the traps after the food.
"That was a futile effort," he said.
The two dogs that were caught were euthanized shortly after they were brought to animal control center because they showed signs of distemper, Carter said.
When the other five dogs couldn't be caught, the family "implored" Ringelberg to put them down, Carter said.
"Had we left, these dogs would have been in a miserable situation until they died," he said. "It was a very tough and unfortunate choice."
Stickel questioned whether killing the dogs violated state law that says an animal should be kept for 72 hours before it is killed.
Carter said the law applies to strays.
Stickel said efforts to catch the dogs did not meet a county law that requires that reasonable means be exhausted.
Carter provided a copy of the law that says "an animal which cannot be seized by reasonable means may be humanely destroyed by order of the animal operations director or person duly authorized by the animal operations director."
[Did he try darting the dogs? If the dogs belonged to these idiot owners, why couldn't they catch and contain them?]
Ringelberg, who has worked for the county for 10 years and often seeks ways to help animals get adopted, had that authority, Carter said.
"They weren't going to be caught by reasonable means," he said.
Carter said he believes Stickel's comments were well intentioned. He said he sympathizes with her point of view.
Animal control officers rarely shoot animals, Carter said. The officers catch about 1,800 animals a year and have not shot more than a dozen in the last 10 years, he said.
"We don't like to do this," Carter said.
[Well based on Ringelberg's history, it sure sounds like he loves to shoot dogs - and Carter has no problem with it.]
(Fay Observer - Aug 7, 2013)
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