Aldermen pass pet ordinance giving owners 10 days to act

City officials implemented an animal control ordinance earlier this month that will give owners of an impounded pet 10 days to claim their animal.

Pet owners may have to pay any number of fines or fees associated with the pet before they can be returned, the ordinance passed on Sept. 10 reads.

Pet owners of an impounded pet will have 10 days to claim their pet and another seven to pick them up after they are identified.

Police Chief Barry Hale said they contract the impounding of animals with TchiaKousky Williams of Canton. 

The ordinance says after 10 days if a pet is unclaimed, they can be adopted, given to an animal shelter or humanely euthanized.

The 10 days was an amendment proposed by Alderman Wesley Slay who said he recently received some feedback from a constituent with concerns of what would happen if their pet got out while they were out of town for an extended period of time.

Hale said his office will make every effort to contact the owner of an animal.

“We will take every opportunity to find out whose dog it is,” Hale said. “We don’t want to harm an animal.”

The item passed unanimously by the city board.