City dog pound reopens following tick issues – El Dorado News-Times

The El Dorado city dog pound is back open after having been temporarily shut down due to a recent tick infestation.
People who visited the pound in search of a lost dog approximately two weeks ago noticed ticks on a dog in the facility, said Charles Hartsell, of Union County Animal Control, the city’s dog control contractor.
Hartsell said the problem had already been identified and measures had already been set in motion to address it.
“They left there wanting to adopt and I said I’ve got to close the pound down right now and we went to the vet and bought every dog NexGard flea and tick pills and gave it to them,” he said.
A local pest control service was also immediately dispatched to treat the pound with a thorough spraying of the walls and floors.
“They were scheduled for a follow-up and the follow-up was yesterday. After they came out the first time and we gave the dogs NexGard, everything was fine within a couple of days,” Hartsell said Friday.
He noted that the visitors who noticed a dog that was covered in ticks were checking to see if the city had picked up their lost dog and were looking to adopt another from the pound.
Hartsell also said someone notified the Union County Animal Protection Society about the matter.
He said he temporarily halted operations, including adoptions, and shut down the pound due to the infestation.
The facility reopened several days later.
“We didn’t want anybody coming in or getting any (ticks) on them, so it was just best to stop it for a while,” Hartsell said. “When they came back to adopt the dog and, I guess, to help get rid of the ticks, I had it locked down. I guess they were concerned about the best interest of the dogs, which is OK.”
Added Robert Edmonds, El Dorado director of public works, “The dogs were not neglected. As soon as Charles Hartsell noticed the problem, he was on it.”
Hartsell said issues with fleas and ticks commonly occur at the city pound, noting that with hot, dry weather, more ticks have recently been showing up in the facility.
“We always battle ticks. Those ticks crawl in the concrete, in the cinder blocks, and they don’t come down until there’s a dog to feed on. The (pest control service) sprays every month,” he said.
“This year has been worse than other years. Last year we had an episode but I caught it quick enough that it didn’t really get on the dogs,” he continued.
Hartsell said he spotted ticks crawling on the wires and doors of the pound then and immediately called in the pest control service.
“In other years, it hasn’t been as bad. When it’s hot and dry, then that’s when we get our tick problems. When it’s hot and wet, that’s when you get your flea problems,” he explained.
Union County is under a burn ban due to dry weather conditions.
Contributing to the problem is the health conditions of some of the dogs that are brought into the pound.
“Some of the dogs we pick up have been in the woods. They don’t have any owners and they scavenge to eat, and of course, they don’t have their shots and we pick up whatever gets on them,” he pointed out.
Dogs in such conditions are quarantined from other dogs that are healthy and have had “some sort of” preventative treatment for fleas, ticks and heartworms.
The city pound currently houses about 20 dogs and not all of them were noticeably affected by the recent tick infestation, Hartsell said.
“We treated all of them. About eight to 10 were affected,” he said.
Need for a new dog pound
Hartsell said the situation speaks to the need for a new dog pound — a long-running project that has been placed on hold by the city.
In 2021, the city accepted an offer from LANXESS to lease two acres of land at the intersection of U.S 82 and South West Avenue/Southfield Road to build a new city dog pound.
The agreement calls for a 99-year lease at a nominal fee for the city.
In 2018, the El Dorado City Council dedicated $22,907 from the city’s reserve coffers to build a new dog pound and with additional funding from the public works’ budget, Edmonds has said about $40,000 is available for the project.
The search for a suitable location for the new pound took three years and in early 2021, Edmonds informed council members about the offer from LANXESS.
Edmonds and city officials have said that the new site will allow not only allow for expansion, including additional pens to house more dogs, but heavy traffic flow and high visibility in the area will also help to curb break-ins and dog thefts, a re-occurring problem at the existing pound at the City Shop on Martin Luther King Boulevard.
While discussing the issue in July of 2021, Edmonds told city council members that the project should have been ready to bid the following month.
However, Edmonds explained last week that he has put a hold on the project until the cost of building materials decreases.
Prices for many goods and services have spiked across the nation as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hartsell noted that a portion of the existing pound was built in the 1960s and another, in the 1980s.
In 2006, the city improved and expanded the pound in response to complaints about overcrowding and other issues from former in-house animal control officers Wayne Crow and Bennie Williams Jr.
Crow also cited then structural deterioration and a lack of proper equipment.
The city spent $7,500 to demolish and rebuild a dilapidated section of the pound, put up a new roof, repair chain-link fences, install concrete blocks between the dog cells and purchase equipment, including new animal traps and spotlights on animal control trucks.
An additional 18 cells were made available due to the rebuild, bringing the total to 34 functional cells.
Little work has been done to pound since then.
“We need a new pound worse than we need anything. This one …, it’s out in the heat. We keep fans going 24/7 and it’s hot,” Hartsell said.
Wintertime poses a different set of problems, he said.
“Everything freezes up. Your water freezes up and you’re trying to break ice for them to drink water and you’re trying to clean,” Hartsell continued.
Adding to the problem is fluctuations in water pressure.
Hartsell said the water pressure at the facility lowers when city crews wash their work vehicles, particularly large trucks, at the City Shop.
“I have to wait, which makes it difficult when I’m out on calls or in court. Most of the time, I try to hire somebody to clean,” Hartsell said.
He said he is looking forward to construction of a new pound and like Edmonds and city officials, he said he feels the property offered by LANXESS is prime real estate for the facility.
“We’ve got the spot. It’ll be great to get it on the edge of city limits. I know people hear barking all the time and I’m sure they’re ready for (the dogs) to leave,” Hartsell said.
Edmonds said he is closely monitoring construction costs and will pull the trigger on the project once prices drop to a more manageable rate.
“I just hit the brakes on that because pricing’s just too high right now,” he said.
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