Bowie County in Texas is in the middle of a crisis that only a small population is fighting.  This crisis is the over-population of stray, free-roaming dogs.  Anywhere from 100 to 200 dogs (including puppies and stray litters) monthly are found as strays or dumped dogs in our county.  This number was taken from a poll solicited on the Facebook group “Lost and Found pets in Texarkana” on March 3; this number does not include the number of dogs that are picked up by animal control in Bowie and Miller County in Arkansas. 

The overpopulation of these dogs leads to an increased number of dogs free-roaming the streets and wooded areas without adequate food and water.  This overpopulation of dogs roaming the streets ends up leading to:

• The spread of dog diseases (parvo, distemper, rabies, etc.)
• Uncontrolled breeding of strays
• Road traffic accidents
• Dog nuisance
• Physical and mental trauma to those that are fighting this crisis

The only way we can combat this crisis is through effective dog management within our county. 

Our community can make a difference and this is our start.  Those that are fighting this seemingly never-ending fight want to see change and believe we can turn this crisis around by implementing legislation that will address all the problems noted above.  Legislation will improve the health and welfare of our dog population, reduce the number of free-roaming dogs to an acceptable level, promote responsible dog ownership and prevent harm to our environment and other animals in our community. 

So, what kind of legislation will help our community control this overpopulation? We can do this through reproduction control, identification and registration, and providing access to resources to responsible pet owners.  We need legislation to ensure that the programs we put into place are actually followed through.  Here are some ideas that we have come up with:

• Establish a regulatory framework for dog breeding and ownership
• Making the abandonment illegal and punishable (and enforceable)
• Establish penalties for those that break the rules
• Establish and enforcing requirements for registration/licensing and individual identification of dogs
• Providing our community with low cost or free spay/neuter options (and making the process easy to sign up)

Keep in mind we realize some rules have already been put in place, but they are not being enforced.  Therefore we would ask for funding to help our government agencies enforce these policies, funding to our veterinary communities to provide free/low-cost spay/neuter, funding to provide the ability to register a dog, and funding to educate our community.