Sheriff Watson proposes idea for county animal control

CLEVELAND, Tennessee(WDEF) – Bradley County Sheriff Eric Watson introduced a proposal to alleviate problems associated with a non-existent county animal control.

During a Bradley County law enforcement meeting, Sheriff Watson was adamant about how to deal with stray animals in the county.

"I’ll keep saying this until I’m blue in the face, we have to deal with stray animals," Watson said.

His proposal is to allow some of his deputies to handle animal control since the county no longer has animal control officers.

"This proposal includes four animal control officers who will have arrest powers and law enforcement authority. That’s never existed in Bradley County," Watson said.

The four deputies will not only enforce state animal laws, they will also be in charge of patrolling the roads for stray live stock, cats and dogs.

"Stray dogs is the biggest majority of our calls," Watson said.

Dogs have also been at the center of recent reported injuries to people. Within the past four weeks, there have been six dog attacks in the county. Three of the attacks sent victims to the hospital. And two of those attacks led to dog owners being arrested. Sheriff Watson says his deputies would have a better handle on enforcing leash laws.

"In my opinion, if they were issuing citations now for people violating the leash law, a lot of the stray animal problems would go away in Bradley County," said Bradley County SPCA President Ed Elkins.

County leaders have expressed a concern over county resources being used to respond to animal calls with Cleveland city limits. Cleveland already has its own animal control and will not respond to animal calls in the county. But because Cleveland is inside Bradley County, deputes are legally obligated to respond to city calls should a person request a deputy. The same would apply to 911 calls regarding animals.

"If a city resident calls and and has animal problem, or burglary or any type of issue, county deputies will always respond to the city resident," Watson said.

But will responding to animal calls within Cleveland city limits conflict with city animal control?Only time will tell should the proposal be approved.

Before county leaders can approve the proposal, Sheriff Watson must come up with an estimate on how much it would cost taxpayers.

The sheriff admits this type of added operation would have to start from scratch.