Spartanburg County desperately needs more animal control officers. As of 2017, Spartanburg County has a population of 306,854 (probably more by now) with a total of only 4 animal control officers for the entire county. Each officer is assigned to 1 section of the county with approximately 75,000 residents in their section. Most residents have at least one animal and a good portion have several more than one animal. Spartanburg County Animal Control officers handle calls for animal cruelty/neglect, injured animals, vicious animals, and nuisance animals. In addition, any animals picked up have to be taken all the way to Greenville County Animal Care because Spartanburg County does not have an animal shelter. This trip takes approximately 80 minutes (round trip) and takes away even more time from completing calls for service. Obviously it is unreasonable to think that one single officer can effectively manage a section of 75,000 residents and especially not with that many different responsibilities. Because of the overload of calls, some animals and residents do not get the help they need. This petition calls for Spartanburg County council to hire at least 2 or 3 more animal control officers to alleviate the work overload and allow officers more time to effectively help the animals in need. Animal Control Officers write citations for animal cruelty and nuisance violations. The income from these citations along with the taxes from the steadily increasing population can easily account for the addition to Spartanburg County's budget.