County officials plan to use a portion of the Cowlitz County Jail property to temporarily shelter rescue dogs in light of the county humane society dropping animal control services for most of the county by the end of the year.
Cowlitz County Sheriff Brad Thurman told The Daily News this program would be a joint effort between the Cowlitz County Sheriff’s Office, the Longview Police Department, and the Kelso Police Department as they would build a structure that could house dogs for up to 72 hours that would cost in the ballpark of $12,000.
The facility would be shared between the three law enforcement agencies and launch Jan. 1, he said.
As of Jan. 1, Cowlitz County, Longview, Kelso, Woodland and Castle Rock will no longer contract will the human society to provide animal control due to rising costs, the nonprofit reports.
During the county commissioners’ meeting on Dec. 5, commissioner Rick Dahl said the program would involve a new building on jail property in hopes of locating the prospective owner in case a chipped dog is in custody; officials could place an image of the dog on a joint Facebook page.
With the news that the Longview Police Department is adding an animal control officer, there are “actually going to be more Animal Control Officers out there than there was before,” and possibly “better service than we had in the past,” said Dahl.
Thurman said the facility, which will have 12 holding pens, accommodating only dogs, will be fenced off to allow the dogs to walk around. Inmates wouldn’t engage with the dogs. Thurman said the humane society would step in if an animal sustained injuries or required veterinary attention.
Humane Society Executive Director Darren Ullmann said contracts with municipalities state that starting Jan. 1 the Humane Society of Cowlitz County would not accept stray animals from the public and, only after the blessing from the jurisdictions’ animal control, could the nonprofit accept a stray.
