Just forwarded from the city’s Linda Harris.  Note that the animal was found nearly 2 weeks ago.

Rabies Alert

From the DeKalb County Board of Health

Residents in the Michigan Avenue area should be aware that a raccoon was captured on October 2, 2009, and tested positive for rabies.

· Anyone who has been bitten or scratched by a wild animal should seek medical attention immediately.

· Watch your pets. If they are acting unusually nervous or aggressive or if they have excessive drooling or foaming at the mouth, contact DeKalb County Animal Control at 404-294-2996, Monday-Friday from 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. or 404-294-2519 (other times).

· Pet owners should make sure their animals are vaccinated against rabies.

For more information about what you can do to protect yourself and your family, call the DeKalb County Board of Health, Monday-Friday, 8:15 a.m. – 5 p.m. at 404-294-3700.

Linda adds “Flyers are being posted in the neighborhood. We have also posted the information on the Decatur website under Late-Breaking News.”

Some months the Oakhurst Message Board sits dormant, with only an inquiry or two about babysitting services or roof repair.   But every once in a while a post can light that place up like its soaked in kerosene.

Yesterday morning a poster named “smodan” wrote this on the site…

Early this AM, our cat was attacked by two roaming dogs (he was sleeping on our front porch on McKoy). One was a brownish pit bull and the other a black lab mix. We scared them away but our cat is in terrible shape and in emergency surgery. Be careful, as we suspect these are the same dogs that killed a cat about a week ago on McKoy. If anyone has an idea who these dogs could belong to, please let us know.

This post quickly led to a cascade of comments detailing other recent attacks and a vocal dissatisfaction with Decatur PD’s animal control unit.  This reaction and organized effort to email the Chief of Police was followed with a email sent by PD spokesperson Juanchella Francis to Oakhurst residents yesterday evening…

Thanks for sending us the complaints about dangerous dogs in Oakhurst as we were unaware of the situation until now. We are actively working on addressing this issue and our Animal Control Officer (Officer Cantrell) has been made aware of these complaints and the subsequent loss of pets. He is meeting with Capt. Boyett in the morning to finalize our plan of action regarding these complaints.

Our part-time Animal Control Officer (Officer Cantrell) was on medical leave from 4/13/09 until 8/18/09. During that time period, all calls in reference to dangerous animals were referred to DeKalb County Animal Control. DeKalb County does impose a $20.00 deposit to set traps. Decatur Police does not.

We are concerned about your safety and the safety of your pets and are working diligently to resolve the problem.

Also, according to a report from last night’s ONA meeting, Francis explained to residents that the city’s part-time officer actually works for the county and when he is off-duty all calls are redirected there.  Knowing the County’s response time to crimes involving humans, let alone animals, it doesn’t take much to understand why some residents are experiencing that odd feeling of dissatisfaction with law enforcement inside the Decatur city limits.

So, hopefully having our part-time officer back on duty will help resolve the current situation.  However, if folks are really that dissatisfied with animal control as this recent thread of activity leads us to believe, then it seems like the most obvious solution would be to bring the position in-house.  However that would obviously require money.

So, here’s the question posed to the community:  are you willing to pay more to employ a full-time animal control division that is on call 24 hours a day?  I’m no Andrea Arnold, but I can pretty much guarantee you it won’t be cheap.

Shawn writes in with this report from the east side of Decatur…

It appears we have 3 potentially dangerous dogs on the loose in the Decatur Heights/ Glenwood Estates area. In the course of the last 3 weeks several cats have been killed in this area via canine attack.

On several occasions over the last 3 weeks there have been eyewitness accounts of 3 dogs (2 pit bulls & 1 pit and lab mix) making the rounds. None of the dogs have collars.

Decatur police has been notified on several occasions. They have in turn contacted animal control who was then suppose to contact the individuals making the reports. No return calls from animal control thus far.

The neighborhood theory is that the dogs may be living in the reserve.

Follow-up contact with the Police requesting increased surveillance has been requested. Hopefully they will respond before the dogs turn their attention to larger prey.

Sounds like Decatur Heights residents might want to keep their cats inside until this situation is taken dealt with.

Is this DeKalb or Decatur Animal Control?