Lufkin City Council unanimously votes to update city’s animal ordinances

LUFKIN, Texas (KTRE) - A majority of animal ordinances in Lufkin are from the 1970s, and on Nov. 1, city council voted unanimously to catch up with the times.

“We needed to update our city ordinances,” Aaron Ramsey, Director of Animal Services said. “A lot of them were just outdated. We needed to come more in line of state law in what it is here in the State of Texas.”

Many of the ordinances focus on animal safety, like having to secure an animal that’s travelling in the bed of a truck or restricting the selling or giving away of animals in public spaces.

Ramsey says these changes are due to the evolving ways people view animals today.

“I’ve been doing this for about 10 years,” Ramsey said. “And even in that short amount of time from when I started until now, society changes, communities change a lot of dynamics change. People view pets a lot differently than 20 or 30 years ago.”

Another ordinance is making big changes in how the shelter handles pets that come into the animal shelters.

After a pet’s second trip to the shelter, they’ll be spayed and neutered, which the shelter hopes can help with chronic overcrowding at the shelter.

“We struggle a lot with animal population problems,” Ramsey said.

Ramsey says pets come through the shelter on a regular basis. Many of them are what he says “repeat offenders.”

“We’re really targeting those repeat offenders and those folks who continuously let them get out,” Ramsey said.

And with many of them not being spayed or neutered, they reproduce in neighborhoods and lead to more strays in the city.

Ramsey says the first time a pet is claimed from the shelter the owner will be educated on the overpopulation crisis and the ordinance.

You can watch the Nov. 1 city council meeting recording here:
https://www.kltv.com/2022/11/02/lufkin-city-council-unanimously-votes-update-citys-animal-ordinances/