Stray dogs slaughter chickens on East Side farm

The dog warden said money from people who buy dog licenses pays for services rendered to all residents.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Two East Side women who lost dozens of chickens to a pack of killer dogs wonder why dog wardens don't patrol neighborhoods as they once did.
"If they'd canvass for licenses, like they used to do, they'd get enough money to hire another warden. They only have two for the whole city," said Rosalyn Thompson. "We had 65 chickens and now have 15."
Thompson and Tricia Floyd have a house and barn on a semi-remote stretch of Atkinson Avenue. They suspect the dogs who killed the chickens come from neighborhoods south of their 60-acre spread.
Carol J. Markovich, Mahoning County dog warden, said two of her four deputy dog wardens work weekdays in the city, leaving the other two for the rest of the county. Deputy wardens respond on weekends to emergencies only.
Busy: The number of calls for service -- 4,718 last year -- means there isn't the time there once was to patrol and do a door-to-door summer canvass for licenses, she said. The license checks stopped about eight years ago because so few people were home during the day.
"We're supposed to be patrolling, seizing and impounding dogs at large, but we get so many calls with people saying 'here's where they are,'" Markovich said Monday. "We average 35 callouts a day -- the majority in Youngstown."
Markovich said more than 2,000 strays were picked up last year, but residents always remember the ones that got away.
The dog warden relies on license fees -- $10 per year -- to fund enforcement. She receives no general fund money to take care of 264,000 residents in the county, which has 34,000 licensed dogs and no telling how many unlicensed.
Money collected from those who obtain licenses for their dogs pays for everyone who receives service from the dog warden, Markovich said. "It's an antiquated law," she said.
Cited: Markovich's records show that a deputy warden has been at the Atkinson farm three times since last August, when Floyd first reported seven to 10 dead chickens. On that first visit, Floyd received a citation for having an unlicensed Doberman pinscher, which has since died.
Floyd said not having a license was a means of protest, but Markovich said Floyd had unlicensed dogs in the past and claimed financial difficulties.
Calls: The chicken slaughter at Thompson and Floyd's farm continued in late September, when they reported another 30 dead. Floyd said a police officer who responded was sickened by the sight.
The women made two calls this month to the dog warden about a pack of dogs. Of the most recent report, Floyd said she heard the chickens and roosters screaming and, as she investigated, saw seven to nine dogs headed toward the barn, which also houses four horses, a goat and several ducks.
"I ran out, dumb as that may sound," Floyd said. "They ran, stopped and looked at me and then ran off."
Thompson and Floyd fear that the dogs will start attacking people.
Attacks: Two Rottweilers seriously injured a 75-year-old Poland man last month on the South Side and, last September, five dogs swarmed around a 10-year-old North Side boy on his way to school, biting his arms, legs and back.
Police reports are filled with complaints about pit bulls and Rottweilers.
Thompson held up a copy of The Vindicator that contained the story of a 10-year-old St. Louis boy killed by a pack of wild dogs last week in a park. A week before the boy died, animal control received two complaints about the dogs and responded but couldn't find any strays. After the attack, they rounded up 10 dogs, six of which were claimed by owners.
Markovich said owners claim only 15 percent of strays caught by deputy dog wardens.
Typical day: She picked a March 1 report at random and scanned it for strays taken to the pound. Wardens that day picked up dogs -- Rottweilers and mixed breeds -- on Early Road, West Dewey, Hilton, East Evergreen, East Florida and Milton avenues.
They also searched for strays that day on Foster Street, Cohasset Drive, Crandall, Fairgeen, Ohio, Woodside, Bennington, East High, Sunshine and Cornell avenues and Rush and Lansdowne boulevards.
Thompson and Floyd said they don't blame loose dogs for forming packs; that's what they do. The women blame adults -- those who don't control their dogs and those responsible for enforcing the law.
Markovich understands Thompson and Floyd's plight, but stressed that Youngstown has two deputy wardens who go from call to call all day long.
"If people acquire dogs they should commit to responsible ownership," Markovich said. "There's really only two rules -- get a license and confine the dog."