Towns association goes to the dogs

By Kevin O’Brien

Canine concerns dominated nearly an hour of discussion at the latest Western Towns Association meeting last week in the town of Cleveland, with town officials venting frustrations about the process for dealing with stray and aggressive dogs.

The conversation started with Chris Holman, Marathon County’s deputy administrator, explaining the county’s contract with the Humane Society of Marathon County (HSMC), which will take in dogs from any municipality in the county using money collected from local dog license fees. Holman said the contract covers strays and quarantined dogs, while a separate contract with the sheriff’s department handles those “held for cause,” usually due to attacking people or other animals.

Under state statute, Holman said town officials are allowed to take custody of stray dogs and drop them off at the HSMC shelter in Wausau. He said the facility is accessible 24/7, but if it’s outside normal business hours, the Wausau Police Department needs to be contacted to arrange a dropoff.

Chapter 173 of state statute says local municipalities “may” appoint a humane officer, which comes with training requirements, but

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they are not mandated to do so, he noted.

“The good news is, you don’t have to be trained at all to handle a stray animal and bring it to the facility,” he said. “Similarly, under the same chapter, it says you can’t take custody of a dog unless it’s ‘abandoned or stray.’” HSMC provides crates to transport stray dogs more easily, and it also recommends that municipalities set up a temporary holding area in case town officials can’t immediately take the animal to the shelter in Wausau, he said.

Even though it may be a time-consuming hassle to bring dogs to the shelter, Holman said “there’s never any charge to you at all for bringing that animal into the facility.”

“You’re not going to get a bill, because anything you’re doing for that animal is covered under the county’s contract,” he said. “So, at least in that sense, there’s no cost involved.”

Town officials, however, still had questions and concerns about handling stray dogs, especially those that are “mean.”

Sheriff Chad Billeb said his department has three deputies trained as humane officers with special tools to capture and restrain aggressive dogs so they can be taken to the shelter. He advised town officials to call the department’s non-emergency line if they are dealing with a dog that cannot be approached safely.

“We may have to call the deputies out, so it may take a little while, but we can do that,” he said.

Holman said the HSMC will quarantine aggressive dogs and test them for rabies, and notify anyone who was bitten if they need to get a shot.

Others in the room told stories of dogs biting people and killing farm animals, and said they’ve been unable to resolve the situation even when law enforcement is called.

“Don’t stop calling us,” Sheriff Billeb said in response.

Questions were also raised about the registration fees used to pay for the county’s contract and the difficulty in getting dog owners to register their pets. Holman acknowledged that the license fees do not fully cover the cost of the HSMC contract, so the county will use “stopgap measures” throughout the year to make sure the payments are covered if the license fund is short.

County administrator Lance Leonhard said the county and the townships need to have a longer conversation about making sure the dog license fees are at the right amount to pay for the HSMC contract without having to use tax dollars to fill in a funding gap. Holman said it can be difficult finding a fee amount that raises adequate funds while not discouraging people from registering their dogs.

“Like everything we’re all dealing with, the price of things – labor, staff – has gone up and the Humane Society is now at a point where they’re asking for more money,” Leonhard said.

Town of Holton treasurer Paula Ruesch said she can tell a lot of residents are not licensing their dogs on a consistent, annual basis based on the vaccination records she sees when people do register their dogs.

“I don’t know who all has dogs,” she said.

Town of Emmet treasurer Gerry Fitzgerald said most town officials realize they’re doing well if just half of the dogs in their township are being registered, so if that could be raised to as much as 75 percent, there would be significantly more money for the HSMC contract.

Holman said he doesn’t have “the perfect answer” for all of the struggles faced by townships, but he encouraged town officials to contact him directly if they have questions or concerns about registering dogs and collecting the fees needed to pay for the county’s contract.

“We can continue the conversation,” he said, endorsing the idea of a special meeting of town officials and the Humane Society.

Last June, Lisa Leitermann, executive director of HSMC, told county supervisors that the non-profit organization needed the county to pay more for keeping stray dogs at the shelter and for quarantining dogs and cats for rabies monitoring after biting someone.

“We haven’t adjusted these rates since 2013, and as you can imagine, all of our expenses have increased,” she told the Human Resources, Finance and Personnel Committee.

Following last Thursday’s meeting, Holman said a new contract with HSMC was signed for 2024, with the maximum annual payment increasing from $77,000 to $100,000 to account for the rising expenses. Among other changes, the daily rate for dog impoundments rose from $16 to $27, and the charge for disposing of animals jumped from $160 to $270, with all veterinary bills being recouped at their actual cost.

Therapy dog introduced

Prior to the discussion about stray dogs, sheriff’s deputy Jackie White introduced her K-9 partner, Bodhi, as the newest member of the county’s Crisis Assessment Response Team (CART), which responds to calls involving people experiencing mental health crises who are a threat to themselves or others.

Bodhi is a therapy dog, who will not be trained to sniff out drugs or pursue suspects, but to provide a sense of calm for those involved in tense or traumatic situations. White said she recently brought Bodi to the Mosinee School District during a bomb scare, and he was able to put the kids at ease even though many of them were upset.

“I really see a lot of chances to use him,” she said, mentioning the county’s juvenile detention center and North Central Health Care as two places that could benefit from his presence.

Sheriff Billeb said his department currently has 14 K-9s on its force, and there are another four (soon to be five) at local police departments around the county. All of the costs for purchasing, training and feeding the K-9s are covered by community donations, he noted.

Also, since CART got started, the sheriff said the number of emergency detentions has decreased by almost 200 per year, even as the number of crisis calls has skyrocketed by 2,000.

“So, the work that they are doing is incredibly important,” he said. “Not only is it right for people and right for the community, it’s right also for our tax dollars.”

A K-9 GUEST - Keith Langenhahn, president of the Western Towns Association, pets Bohdi, a Labradoodle being used as a therapy dog for Marathon County’s Crisis Assessment Response Team. Deputy Jackie White, Bodhi’s handler, speaks to local township officials.

STAFF PHOTO/KEVIN O’BRIEN