Cherokee County schedules public hearing on shorter livestock impound period and higher owner-surrender fees

The Cherokee County Board of Commissioners placed on its agenda a request to hold a public hearing Feb. 18, 2025, to consider amending the county code to shorten the time livestock are held after impoundment from 21 days to five days and to update owner-surrender fees.

County staff said the proposed amendment to Chapter 10, Article 2, Section 10-38 of the Cherokee County Code of Ordinances would reduce the holding period for impounded livestock — animals taken into custody for reasons such as inadequate housing, lack of food or being in a roadway — from 21 days to five days. The staff presentation said the change is intended to reduce the financial burden on the county's animal shelter, which at times receives large numbers of livestock that strain its budget.

A county staff member summarized the proposal: "Taking it from 21 days to 5 days would allow us to then put it recompone it. Or, in the meantime, we look for the owner who lost reports in that kind of thing. It would be a less burden on the county going through the 21 days to the 5 days." That staff member also said impounded animals would still be cared for during the holding period, including boarding and veterinary care where required.

Commissioners and other speakers raised concerns about shortening the hold period for higher-value animals. One commissioner said, "Let's get a picture of somebody's horse getting out, ending up in animal control. And 5, 6 days later, they realize it, and it's already been given to somebody else. I can see trouble coming there." Another speaker suggested the county consider distinguishing between types and quantities of animals in policy language, saying a single horse merits different treatment than a large group of goats or chickens.

The agenda also included two related items for a public hearing on Feb. 18, 2025: a proposed resolution to raise the shelter's owner-surrender fee from $25 per animal to $50 per animal, and a fee for owner surrender of animals defined as livestock set at $100 per animal; and an amendment to Chapter 10, Article 2, Section 27C to allow the county or other parties to be reimbursed for costs related to impounded animals (including boarding and veterinary care) beyond the prior restriction to criminal cases.

County staff explained that the reimbursement change would extend cost recovery to "all properly impounded animals," not only those involved in criminal prosecutions, and that the Board had already held a public hearing on related animal-control ordinance language at a prior meeting (Jan. 21) and postponed a decision to this meeting.

No final votes on the ordinance or fee changes were recorded in the transcript. The items were presented for consideration and scheduled for public hearing on Feb. 18, 2025.

Details from the meeting that commissioners asked staff to clarify included whether the proposed five-day hold would apply to strays (staff said strays would remain subject to the 21-day hold) and suggestions that the county's written policy differentiate by species and by the scale of intake (for example, single horses versus large numbers of goats).

A county staff member also noted the cost pressures the shelter faces when it receives "multitude[s] of goats" or large numbers of pigs and goats and said reducing the mandatory hold period would alleviate some budget strain.

The public hearing(s) were set for Feb. 18, 2025; no final action on the proposed ordinance or resolution was taken at the meeting recorded in the transcript.