Stone County, Mo. residents concerned about increase in stray and abandoned dogs, pushing for animal control – KY3

KIMBERLING CITY, Mo. (KY3) – Residents in Stone County are pushing for a solution to a growing stray dog population.
This summer, Vanessa Oller moved to Stone County to build her lake home. That’s when she saw the stray dog issue firsthand and is now calling on county leaders to address it.
Oller says after moving into her lake home, the situation got worse. She ended up with 14 abandoned dogs and said she had zero help to save them.
”I called the sheriff’s department and said, what do I do with these animals,” Oller said. “There are all these dogs they’re living in our garage. They’re staying. They’re sick. They have fleas and ticks. They’re pottying in our yard. What can I do?”
Oller says because there is no animal control in Stone County, police recommended she call rescues in the area because they’re not allowed to transport dogs in their vehicles.
”Rescue 1, For the Love of Canines, and Polk County Animal Control were the ones who stepped in to fix a problem that Stone County has,” said Oller.
Kimberling City Police Chief Todd Lemoine says he’s aware of the stray and abandoned dog problem. However, he says they can not pick up strays outside Kimberling City city limits. Chief Lemoine says inside city limits, they can house dogs for up to seven days in hopes of finding the owner. He highly encourages dog owners to register their pets. The department is also building a kennel to house those dogs and has added an online portion to the city website to make the identification process more accessible.
”Tell us what kind of dog, what color, how much the dog weighs, and if the dog doesn’t have a collar, then we will hopefully be able to find the owner searching by the breed,” said Chief Lemoine.
Oller says Stone County Commissioners are open to the idea of funding for animal control.
”They just believe that it should be a multi-department task, and the health department should be included in that, as far as they’re going to be the ones that make the ordinances related to the health and safety.”
Oller says she does plan to share her concerns during the Stone County Health Department meeting on November 21. KY3 did reach out to the Stone County Sheriff’s Department. The staff did not want to comment on the matter at this time.
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