Is Breckenridge’s Animal Control out of control? Some local residents think so.
Editor’s Note: This article is part of a series by the Breckenridge Texan on the animal problems in Breckenridge and Stephens County, Texas. Additional articles will be linked at the end of this story as they are posted.
By Tony Pilkington and Carla McKeown/Breckenridge Texan
On a daily basis, Breckenridge-based Facebook pages feature listings about lost pets, stray animals roaming the streets and complaints about problem dogs. The Breckenridge Police Department dispatch reports show several animal-related calls each day. The police chief says the animal shelter is at 100 percent capacity.
Breckenridge has an animal control problem, one that some local residents would define as a crisis situation.
As in many small, rural communities across Texas, the city government has struggled with animal control for years. And, like many of those communities, the problem is complex and has several components.
As the entity in charge of the only animal shelter in the county, the City of Breckenridge’s efforts to curb the problem have been hampered by a lack of funding and resources.
But, Breckenridge’s animal problems don’t necessarily start with the city government. Many of the problems, especially loose or at-large dogs and stray cats, are the result of irresponsible pet owners who don’t keep their animals at home and don’t get them vaccinated, neutered and registered.
However, problems at the animal shelter and a lack of response to calls about problem animals in the past have damaged the public’s confidence in the City’s ability to handle the situation. Specifically, the sudden closure of the animal shelter by the City in 2020, followed by an animal neglect incident involving an animal control officer at the shelter after it was partially reopened, resulted in a wide-spread lack of trust and support from the community for the City’s animal control department.
Additionally, turnover in staffing in the department has also been a problem. And, since animal control is now under the supervision of the Breckenridge Police Department, there has been a period of transition in leadership during the past year because of turnover in the police chief position. Breckenridge has had three police chiefs since January. Former Police Chief Bacel Cantrell left in February, and then Interim Police Chief Tommy Williams served until April, when Blake Johnson was hired as police chief.
Loose Dogs and Stray Cats
Based on recent discussions with city officials and representatives of the local humane society, as well as multiple social media posts, the city’s biggest animal control problem right now is loose dogs. And especially worrisome are vicious dogs.
Breckenridge City Manager Cynthia Northrop said when the city officials were working on their strategic plan and taking input for the community and city employees, loose dogs came up as a concern.
At the July 2, 2024, Breckenridge City Attorney Eileen Hayman, center, explained changes to the City’s animal-related ordinance. Also pictured are, from left, Mayor Bob Sims, City Commissioner Greg Akers and, at right, City Manager Cynthia Northrop. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/ Breckenridge Texan)
“In the strategic plan…one of the things that came out of that was dogs running loose was a big concern…and vicious (dogs), you know,” she said. “…So we’ve really been taking a lot of time to really hone what our vision is and what our priorities are.”
Over the years, Breckenridge has had many issues with loose dogs, some of them serious and even deadly. In early 2008, a 7-year-old child was killed by a pack of loose, vicious dogs near Hubbard Creek Lake. In that case the dogs had strayed from their yard and killed a neighbor boy.
Within the past few years, a woman in a wheelchair was attacked near South Elementary by dogs after she picked up her children from school and they were walking home, according to former Breckenridge Fire Chief Calvin Chaney. The woman had repeatedly reported the aggressive dogs, he said.
Recently there have also been incidents in the city where loose dogs have attacked and killed residents’ cats, dogs, pet rabbits, goats and even a peacock, officials said.
Johnson said when it comes to vicious dogs there are a number of laws in place that can be used to control the problem and they don’t have to wait until a dog bites people or kills animals to take action.
“…I can tell you right now, I can think of at least three or four vicious dogs that we’ve responded to,” he said. “We’ve gone out, we’ve written tickets, we’ve taken the dogs, the dogs have been euthanized because of the fact they’re a danger.”
In a meeting at City Hall with the Breckenridge Texan on July 12, Northrop and Johnson acknowledged the community’s concerns about animal control problems in the city and discussed the on-going efforts to improve the city’s animal control policies.
Northrop said there has been a transitional period in the animal control department recently, including the replacement of long-time staff.
The animal control department has two full-time animal control positions, and one part-time animal kennel tech position allotted. However, currently the part-time position is open.
Additionally, Northrop said she wants to expand the animal control staffing to three full-time positions by making the part-time position full-time. The expansion is pending budget approval, and if approved, it will go into effect in October, when the new budget starts.
Another step Northrop said they’ve taken recently is staggering work shifts for the two full-time animal control officers so they can cover more hours. By doing that, she said, they now have animal control coverage from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and then also on Saturday.
Although animal control is not a 24/7 operation, both Northrop and Johnson said that if there is a dangerous situation, such as a dangerous dog or other public safety issue, then police will be dispatched.
“We we have taken over 300 calls for service for animals (this year),” Johnson said. “I have instructed the dispatchers that they will not tell people we’re not going to do anything about it. In the city, they will send an animal control officer to any calls for animals. If it’s overnight, and I don’t have an animal control officer, my officers will go up. My officers are not animal control officers, but they are about public safety. And they will go identify if there’s a public safety issue. Or if they can find the owner of the animal…they’ll get the animal back.”
The animal control officers and the police officers have the ability to answer animal calls, write tickets for ordinance violations and impound animals, Johnson said.
In addition to staggering the work schedules for animal control officers to extend available hours of service, Northrop said, they’ve seen significant improvements in the city’s animal control operations since the appointment of Shorie Henderson as an animal control officer.
Northrop also said the current ACOs are more actively engaged on the streets and at the shelter. That operational shift is designed to increase their visibility and accessibility to the public.
Local citizens also need to take responsibility for their pets, getting them neutered and finding homes for animals they no longer want or are unable to care for. Retired fire chief Chaney, who supervised the City’s animal control department for several years, said the situation can get out of control. At one time, animals were being thrown over the fence at the shelter and once dogs were left in the box of one of the animal control vehicles, without the knowledge of the staff, Chaney said.
“That’s why it’s got to be a joint operation,” he said, emphasizing that the City, Humane Society and local residents need to work together to solve the problem.
In addition to the problem with stray dogs in Breckenridge, City officials also acknowledged that there are some cat issues in the city but say that they are not as much of a public safety issue as the loose dogs. Additionally, the animal shelter no longer houses cats.
“We don’t have the facilities and the resources to deal with cats; cats aren’t as much of a public safety issue,” Northrop said.
When it comes to feral cats, she said she thinks most communities across the country are really focused on controlling the population through programs like Trap, Neuter and Return. With those programs, feral cats are trapped, then neutered and returned to the spot where they were trapped. There is usually a small notch put in their ear, so that if they are trapped again, they are identifiable as a cat that has already been neutered as part of the program.
Currently, there are no TNR programs in place in Breckenridge or Stephens County, but Northrop says she has approached Kathy O’Shields, president of the Stephens County Humane Society, with the idea and discussed it with the police chief, who is in charge of animal control in Breckenridge.
A recent incident in which a cat that was reportedly trapped by a local resident and turned over to the animal shelter was eventually released at Lake Daniel by City employees has generated a complaint from the Humane Society. Click here to read more about that situation.
The Animal Shelter
The City of Breckenridge houses dogs that are in the City’s custody at the Breckenridge Animal Shelter, located at 601 N. Dubois Ave.
Shortly after the Stephens County Humane Society was reorganized in 1998, members led an effort to build a new animal shelter in Breckenridge. Kathy O’Shields, the organization’s current president, said during that time they looked at a lot of shelters and took a couple of years to plan, raise the money and build the shelter. She said the shelter cost about $65,000 to build. The City of Breckenridge and Stephens County each gave $10,000 to the project, and Humane Society raised the rest of the money.
In addition to the monetary donations, O’Shields said, there were also other donations to the project, including labor from local businesses. For example, she said they paid to purchase the materials and equipment to air condition the shelter, but a local air conditioning company at the time donated the labor to install it.
“So there were a lot of donations that weren’t monetary,” she said. “We raised …enough to do the $65,000 cost of the shelter, but that didn’t include the … donations of labor and stuff like that.”
The shelter opened on July 22, 2003, and was given by the Humane Society to the City of Breckenridge on that same day, according to O’Shields. Once it became a city-owned facility, the city became responsible for operating the facility.
When the shelter first opened, O’Shields said, it started out with one animal control officer. Then, they added a part-time person and through the years it got moved up to two animal control officers and a part-time person. Then for about year before the shelter was closed in 2020, there were three full-time animal control officers.
Over the years, Animal Control and the shelter have been operated under the control several different departments at the city. When it was first opened, it was placed under the control of the Breckenridge Police Department. Then, it went under the Breckenridge Fire Department, and then to the Parks Department and back to the Fire Department. In 2020, the animal control duties were turned over to the BPD.
“It’s been under different departments. The shelter was kind of always considered the step-child of the city.” O’Shields said.
For the past 21 years, the shelter has been a city-owned facility and the city has paid for the employees to operate it and for the utilities. However, O’Shields said the Humane Society has furnished a lot of the food for the animals and donated funds for other expenses.
“One year we had a huge food drive and got trailers full of food for the shelter,” she said.
Additionally, she said, if anything special came up, the Humane Society paid for it. She said that at one time the organization put between $60,000 to $65,000 a year into the shelter.
“We paid all bedding on all the animals that came into the shelter. Any sick animals that came in, anything like that, we covered it,” she said. “Animals were spayed, neutered. Any animals that were heart-worm positive, we treated them, paid for that. Basically outside of the employees and the utilities of the shelter, the Humane Society paid for it.”
She said they also paid for transportation to take some of the dogs out of Breckenridge to other cities and communities where they could be adopted out.
Animal Shelter Closure
In April of 2020, the shelter and animal control were shut down by then-City Manager Andy McCuistion, just before he retired, because of revenue short falls.
McCuistion laid off all the animal control officers and moved animal control duties to the police department to be handled by police officers, as needed. It has been under the supervision of the BPD since then.
Kathy O’Shields addressed the Breckenridge City Commission on behalf of the Stephens County Humane Society during a special meeting on May 26, 2020, at the National Theatre. The meeting was held to allow local citizens a chance to voice their opinions about the fate of the community’s animal shelter, senior citizens center and swimming pool. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)
In May 2020, as the City of Breckenridge was facing a budget deficit of more than $400,000 and was looking for ways to cut costs, the City Commission held a special meeting at the National Theatre to discuss the future of several City departments, including the animal shelter, as well as the senior citizens center and the swimming pool.
More than 40 local citizens turned up for the meeting and emotions ran high as many of them came forward to address the commissioners about their concerns and express their opposition to closing the facilities. No decision was made that night, but later commissioners voted to shut down the Animal Shelter and the Senior Citizens Center.
When the animal shelter was closed and the employees were laid off, the Humane Society transferred all of the animals out of the shelter. O’Shields said they were able to find rescue homes for most of the animals, and for the ones they couldn’t find homes for, they placed in a local pet boarding facility, a cost that was paid by the Humane Society. She said none of the animals were euthanized.
After the shelter was closed, any major animal control calls, such as dog bites, were handled by the police department and police officers. However, the BPD did not handle routine animal calls like the animal control officers had, O’Shields said.
She also said she believes that the time after the shelter and the animal control department were closed was when all of the animal control problems for the city started to spiral out of control.
At some point between 2020 and 2022, the shelter was reopened with minimal service and one person was hired as an animal control officer and to run the shelter. Although it was reopened, the shelter was not handled in the same way it was previously, and the local animal ordinances were not enforced, according to several people involved with the City’s animal control.
Animal Neglect at Animal Shelter
To further add to the City’s animal control problems, in January 2022 an animal neglect case came to light at the animal shelter, which resulted in the resignation and criminal investigation of an animal control officer by the Breckenridge Police Department.
At the time the problem was discovered, the facility was housing several dogs that had been picked up in the city by the police department, as well as two stray dogs that had been in the shelter since Nov. 3, 2021, and six dogs that had been surrendered by a local resident on Nov. 26, 2021, and were part of an investigation by the Stephens County Sheriff’s Office. The other dogs had been picked up by the police department for a variety of reasons and had not been at the shelter as long.
O’Shields filed a formal complaint with the City of Breckenridge on Jan. 6, 2022, alleging that dogs at the shelter “were emaciated and the veterinarian stated they are not being properly fed and are starving.” Additionally, the letter states that one puppy was in such poor condition that it had to be hospitalized.
In early January 2022, several dogs at the Breckenridge Animal Facility were found to be malnourished and in unclean kennels, according to the Stephens County Humane Society. This photo originally ran with a March 1, 2022, article on the Breckenridge Texan. (Courtesy Photo)
According to then-Breckenridge Police Chief Bacel Cantrell, the animal control officer who was in charge of the facility had resigned from the position and the department was treating the complaint about the conditions at the facility as a criminal complaint.
After the BPD’s initial investigation, the case was turned over to Eastland County District Attorney Brad Stephenson when Stephens County Attorney Gary Trammel recused himself from the case. According to his press release, Stephenson “made several trips to Stephens County, placed countless phone calls and as a result, have received a large amount of input from the community, either in person or in writing. Frankly, as of current, I have spent more time on this case than any misdemeanor case in my career, either as an Assistant Criminal District Attorney or as the Criminal District Attorney.”
In October 2022, the former ACO pleaded guilty to the charge of Cruelty to Non-Livestock Animal, a class A misdemeanor, according to a press release from Stephenson, who investigated and prosecuted the case. The defendant qualified for a Pre-Trial Diversion program and was put on probation for one year and ordered to pay a $500 fee, as well as $60 per month in probation fees and about $800 in restitution to the Humane Society.
Stephenson said in his statement that his investigation revealed problems at the Breckenridge animal facility that occurred after the City cut funding for the shelter and switched the animal control duties from the fire department to the police department.
“With those budgetary cuts, the staff at the Breckenridge Animal Shelter was reduced from four full-time positions to one,” he said in the 2022 statement. “Simply stated, one person is not capable of covering all requirements and duties of this type of operation, a twenty-four hour, seven days a week, three hundred sixty-five days a year (24/7/365)! Unfortunately, the Breckenridge Police Department did not have the adequate policies and procedures in place needed at the Breckenridge Animal Shelter, and eventually the inevitable happened and the animals suffered.”
In the weeks and months following the problems at the animal facility, the City of Breckenridge hired a new animal control officer and a part-time employee to help at the shelter. Additionally, after a request by O’Shields and other Humane Society members, the City agreed to hire another full-time animal control officer.
Current efforts
In a recent interview with the Breckenridge Texan, Northrop and Johnson repeatedly emphasized their commitment to getting Breckenridge’s animal problem under control.
“I feel like the vision is there. And the goal is there,” Northrop said. “…We want to partner with Kathy, we want to partner with the county. I want to partner with the community. I do think there’s a lot of support in the community.”
Ideas to engage the community include pop-up adoption events, spay and neuter clinics, and registration drives. Such initiatives aim to foster a collaborative environment and ensure the city’s animal control services are responsive and effective.
Additionally, the City is working to educate the public about local laws that dog owners are required to follow and enforcement of those laws.
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