Jamicá C. Ashley
Animal shelter fees in Edgecombe County are increasing.
Approved during the county Board of Commissioners March meeting, a new fee schedule was presented to the board from the Board of Health.
"In the past year to year and a half we have had several large animals that we've had to shelter," said county Health Director Karen LaChapelle. "It's been more of an expense and we really didn't have anything to address it in our guidelines."
The large animals LaChapelle is referring to include four horses, six pigs and a few goats that had to be housed at the animal shelter behind the county Health Department on North Main Street in Tarboro.
The proposed fees went into effect Jan. 1, upon approval. The animal shelter falls under the jurisdiction of the Health Department.
The fee changes are for boarding fees, which increased from $7 per day to $10 per day, bite case quarantine increased from $100 to $150, euthanasia of animals for $10 and a euthanasia disposal fee of $5.
The other fee changes pertain specifically to livestock and large animals.
Reclaiming of small livestock is $10 plus $10 per day, for medium livestock it is $50 plus $10 per day and for large animals it is $100 plus $10 per day.
Adoption of small livestock is $10, for medium it is $50 and for large it is $100.
Medium livestock pickup is now $50 and large animal pickup is $100.
The fees for adoption ($35), not displaying a rabies tag ($100), rabies tag replacement ($1) remained the same.
Small livestock includes chickens, ducks and geese, medium livestock consists of pigs and goats while large animals are horses and cows.
The county's animal control has been busy. Just counting dogs and cats from June 2009 to January 2010, there were 547 surrenders, 836 strays and 17 bites.
There were more than 1,000 euthanized animals - 587 dogs and 672 cats - with only 51 cats and dogs being adopted from animal control and 16 reclaimed.
Animal control is mandated by the state and fees vary depending on the cost to provide services and other factors.
"If there was no animal control, there would be a lot of stray animals and a lot of animal bites," LaChapelle said.
