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Mason City police say animal violations are on the rise and are advising citizens to learn local pet ordinances

MASON CITY – Mason City police say animal violations are on the rise and are advising citizens to learn the local pet ordinances.

According to Mason City police:

Despite the police department’s attempts to educate citizens and pet owners about the current city animal ordinances, we have not been getting voluntary compliance. Violations seem to be increasing. See the partial stats from July 2022 below:

— We had 9 bite cases, 6 were dogs, and 2 were cats. (One of these cases involved a dog attacking another dog. The rest were bites on people).
— 14 criminal citations were issued for animal ordinance violations.
— 72 animals were impounded at the Mason City Stray Animal Shelter (37 dogs, 32 cats, 2
guinea pigs and 1 bird). This is the highest number of dogs ever taken to the shelter.
— As of Aug 5, 2022, we have impounded 323 dogs and cats so far. This exceeds the the final count of 311 for calendar year 2020. We are also currently projected to exceed the final number of 529 impounded animals for calendar year 2021.

Please familiarize yourself and follow the local animal ordinances. Ensure your cat or dog is vaccinated for rabies, licensed with the City, and do not allow your animal to roam at large. Owners may be cited and Spot or Fluffy may be impounded. Owners will have to produce proof of ownership and then pay to reclaim Spot or Fluffy as well as remedy any other violations (no rabies; no license, etc). The reclaim fees increase for subsequent reclaims. Due to the increasing numbers of violations, we are reviewing animal ordinances and whether to increase reclaim fees. We have a few Mason City residents who have reclaimed the same animals 6 or more times for running at large. The majority of these reclaims have been within the last 12 month period! We are most concerned with non-compliance for failing to vaccinate pets for rabies; allowing pets to run at-large; and when pets bite humans or other pets.
The City currently does not require pet vaccinations for parvo or distemper virus. Please know that we have recently seen an uptick in dogs with parvo in Mason City. Either virus is very contagious and can make your pet very acutely ill or die if unvaccinated. If your pet leaves your property, it may be exposed. Owners can possibly bring the viruses home to their pets also.

Please talk to your vet whether your animal should be vaccinated for parvo or distmper while ensuring required rabies vaccinations are current.

Last, please don’t feed stray cats. We are considering whether to add this as a new city ordinance. Most live-trapped cats from Mason City are feral and unvaccinated. Our stray animal shelter has limited space. Feral cats are rarely adoptable. Feral cats often spread distemper, and other feline illnesses to wildlife or other animals at the shelter. We receive several calls from residents wanting us to deal with sick or “intoxicated” raccoons and skunks. This is probably more likely feline or canine distemper (than rabies) overwhelming their neurolgical system which will lead to death.

When residents leave food out for stray cats, it attracts other critters, and then neighbors and police have to deal with the aftermath. Neighboring residents do not appreciate the quarreling cats, cat spray / cat feces, never-ending cycles of kittens, and the irritation induced to the neighbors’ pets.

Mason City is home to a few skulks of foxes – red and gray. Gray foxes in Iowa are extremely rare. 3 gray foxes died or exhibited the sick or “intoxicated” behavior recently before dying. Iowa DNR officials confirm distemper was present in at least one of the dead gray foxes. We also have some residents trying to leave food out for foxes. This is problemmatic and ill-advised no matter how cute someone may think foxes are.

Mason City’s current animal ordinances can be found on the internet by copying and pasting the following url into your web browser:

https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/masoncityia/latest/masoncity_ia/0-0-0-4340

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