TUPELO – Danille Short watched helplessly as a black lab snatched a neighborhood cat and ripped it apart Wednesday afternoon.

She tried to save the feline, but it was too late. The dog, a stray who has roamed her South Thomas Street area for more than a year, had done too much damage.

“It just tore it apart,” she said. “I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

It’s not the first cat this particular dog has killed. Short said at least a dozen, including her own 9-year-old pet Princess, have met the same fate. Yet the Tupelo-Lee Humane Society hasn’t been able to catch the culprit.

For this reason, Short said she supports Tupelo Police Chief Tony Carleton’s plan to hire a full-time animal control officer in his department. It would be the first such position since at least 1990, he said.

Tupelo has an estimated 19,000 pet dogs and cats, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association pet ownership calculator. That doesn’t include stray animals roaming the streets, yards and wooded areas.

A rough guess of strays comes from the Tupelo-Lee Humane Society, which has taken in an average of nearly 8,000 cats and dogs each year for the past five years.

When you add it up, that’s nearly eight cats and dogs for every 10 Tupelo residents. But while the Tupelo Police Department employs one officer for every 340 residents, it has zero dedicated to the roughly 27,000 cats and dogs.

Currently, the only animal control officer patrolling Tupelo works for the nonprofit Tupelo-Lee Humane Society. And though that officer can issue citations, she cannot arrest people or conduct the lengthy investigations needed to crack down on severe problems like dog fighting.

She also must call police for backup anytime she deals with dangerous situations or encounters a combative pet owner, said TLHS Director Debbie Hood, who supports Carleton’s proposal.

“They want to be able to assist us with a properly trained police officer dedicated to animal control,” she said. “It would benefit us.”

Carleton pitched his plan to the City Council during a Thursday work session at City Hall. He said the position would help Tupelo better enforce its current animal ordinances, not to mention the tougher ones now under consideration. And it would end the practice of sending regular officers to assist TLHS or to respond to animal calls dispatched by 911.

Because it employs the city’s only animal control officer, TLHS takes the majority of animal-related calls. It fields about 2,500 per year, said Hood. It translates to roughly 10 calls per business day.

But after hours, those calls go to 911. Last year, the emergency response agency took 455 calls related to animals in Tupelo alone, according to records.

With just one person assigned to respond, it can take hours before a caller’s complaint is addressed. By that time, the offending animal usually has disappeared until another day.

Such has been the case with the South Thomas Street black lab, said Short and her nearby neighbor Freda Curl. By the time the animal control officer shows up, the lab has retreated into the woods and is out of sight.

“The humane society is doing all they can do, but their hands are tied and they’re limited,” Carleton told the council. “They do a great service, but they’re taxed.”

The new position would cost $48,000 annually, plus a one-time investment of $24,656 for equipment and training. The person would collaborate extensively with the TLHS animal control officer.

Mayor Jack Reed Jr. supports the idea, as do many of the council members who must approve a budget amendment to accommodate the new position. That could happen within the next few weeks.

If all goes well, someone could be hired by early March.

“We’ve had some criticism, and rightly so, that we’re not doing a good job of enforcing what we’ve already got,” said council President Fred Pitts. “By doing this ahead of time, we’re at least letting people know we’re serious about enforcing what we’ve already got out there” before adopting tougher rules.

emily.lecoz@journalinc.com