What you need to know
During a presentation to commissioners on April 29, Eason said there are only two detectives manning the county's animal cruelty division, which despite being housed in the Precinct 2 Constable's Office, is responsible for animal cruelty cases countywide.
"We wear different hats and we do different things that are not just always law enforcement duties, but we provide shelters and food for these animals," Eason said. "My detectives have worked 80 cases in just the first quarter [of 2025], and we've seized 97 animals in the first four months of 2025, so that gives us projection of about 320 cases that these guys are going to work this year."
"A lot of times, like I said, you have a lady, a single mom, that's unable to put food on the table for the kids, much less an animal. So it doesn't do any justice to her or us to put her in jail, because now we're compounding the situation," Eason said. "We anticipate that this is not necessarily something that's a growing trend. It's more of an understanding of how it's already been there, and we're just now starting to see how it affects the communities and people, and we're doing a better job of holding them accountable."
The impact
Eason said the county has seized 97 animals in 2025 so far; however, the county must then fund the rehabilitation and housing of those animals until they are adopted. Eason said the cost to fully vaccinate and ensure the health of the animal is roughly $600-$800 per animal, not including any special treatment which may be needed, depending on the extent of the abuse.
County Judge Mark Keough said the county was looking at potential options to recover some of the expenses, including charging additional fees for out-of-county animal dropoffs and higher fines for those charged with animal abuse. However, Precinct 3 Commissioner Ritch Wheeler said he had concerns over the fines being a viable collection source for the county to offset the cost of taking care of neglected animals.
"If they can't afford to feed the dog, they're not going to be able to afford to pay the fine," Wheeler said.
Another issue is the housing of seized animals, which can put an additional capacity strain on the county's animal shelter, which is already facing overcrowding of dogs. However, commissioners said they would continue to look into a potential solution in the future.
