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Warren County officials preview draft countywide animal-control ordinance
Summary
County staff presented a draft countywide animal-control ordinance intended to standardize nuisance, livestock and public-safety rules in unincorporated Warren County, emphasize compliance-first enforcement, and expand community-cat and spay/neuter programs; no vote was taken.
Warren County leaders reviewed a draft countywide animal-control ordinance at their Feb. 26 fiscal court meeting, saying the proposal is written to protect public health and safety while remaining “farm friendly” and focused on compliance rather than criminal penalties.
Sarah Besinger, a presenter who has worked with three magistrates on the proposal, said the county has never had a countywide animal-control ordinance and that the draft borrows elements from similar counties and the city of Bowling Green to establish nuisance definitions, livestock and poultry standards, and procedures for bite reporting and rabies vaccinations. “This ordinance provides clear standards for nuisance, livestock, and safety issues,” Besinger said, adding that enforcement would be complaint-driven and operate through code-enforcement procedures rather than as a criminal ordinance.
The draft also includes provisions on animal-welfare and population-control measures: minimum care standards, humane-empowerment procedures, a community-cat program, spay-and-neuter initiatives and microchipping. Besinger said the community-cat program mirrors the city’s pilot and that the Bowling Green Warren County Humane Society has offered to help extend those services countywide.
Emily Cothern, community-cat program manager at the Bowling Green Warren County Humane Society, told magistrates the humane society supports the approach and can provide education and field support. “Everything that we’re seeing here is very consistent with common-sense best practices,” Cothern said. She described the humane society’s role in mitigation and urged collaboration between the county, the city and humane-society staff.
Magistrates emphasized that the ordinance is intended to address problems that arise as subdivisions develop outside city limits. The presiding judge said the draft will be posted to the county website for public review and that the court expects to take formal up-or-down action at a March meeting. No formal vote or ordinance adoption occurred on Feb. 26.
The court directed that the document pass through the county attorney’s review before formal consideration and asked staff to provide the community ample notice and opportunities for input during the coming weeks.
