City of Petal coping with its stray animals

PETAL, Miss. (WDAM) - With animal shelters at capacity and the City of Petal seeing an increase in stray animals on the road, new efforts are being put into place to help.

“So some of the things we are trying to do is obviously it’s illegal to come in and drop off animals,” Petal Mayor Tony Ducker said. “If we see that taking place, we are going to be very proactive, we are going to be writing tickets and we are going to bring the full force of law against you in those situations.

“We are even looking at putting cameras at our dog park because a couple times a month someone drops an animal off there,”

Mayor Ducker says the city also has partnered with local animal shelters to help lessen the amount of strays on the road.

One new way is the start of a program that will take stray cats, have them fixed and then returned.

“If you include our officer and the resources we provide there, and the money we give New Hope, we are going to do a per dog fee between $200 and $240,” Ducker said. “And we pay a per animal on the cats as well at Southern Pines.”

For those looking to add an animal to their home, New Hope employee Beth Spargo says the animal shelter should be your first stop.

“Animals just need a home and by taking one animal from the shelter, you are giving it an opportunity for life, and you are opening up space for another animal,” Spargo said. “Because, unfortunately, not all shelters are no-kill, so if there is not enough space they will start to euthanize and I don’t want to see any animal be euthanized.

“But if that’s the only option they have to take more off the streets because they are in someone’s way or someone doesn’t want them around, then it just becomes very sad.”

According to Mayor Ducker, the city spends over six figures on trying to help the stray animal problem.

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