Moreauville focusing on stray dog problem

Dog owners are being warned to keep their pets from running at-large on the streets of Moreauville or risk losing them.

“The number of loose and stray dogs in Moreauville has gotten ridiculous,” Alderman Kenneth Farbe said at the Nov. 13 Village Council meeting. “We have a leash law in Moreauville and pet owners need to follow it.”

The council decided to aggressively enforce the ordinance by picking up loose dogs and euthanizing them if nobody claims them.

Mayor Timmy Lemoine said most dogs picked up are never claimed.

Moreauville can set traps for stray dogs and the euthanize them if nobody claims them. However, that could become expensive -- especially if the crackdown on strays is successful -- because the village would have to pay for each euthanization.

Farbe said the municipality has to do “what is right for the safety of the community. The dog problem will continue to grow if we don’t do something.”

On another issue, Farbe said Moreauville employees will pick up leaves and limbs in town, but will not pick up white goods, trash, old tires and other debris.

Farbe said household garbage is picked up under a contract with the Avoyelles Police Jury and funded by a parishwide sales tax. The Police Jury maintenance employees will also pick up white goods -- old refrigerators, stoves, washers, dryers, etc.

Tires have to be disposed of through a proper company, which includes a charge to dispose of tires. Citizens can bring their tires to the Parish Barn in Mansura, where the Police Jury will collect them and take them to a recycling plant for proper disposal.

If the neither the contracted garbage collector nor the Police Jury pick up an item, it is the resident’s responsibility to ensure the item is removed and properly disposed of.

“We have debris piled up on the side of a street and in the street for long periods of time,” Farbe noted. “As a town, we are not allowed to pick it up.”