Batesville Animal Control Officer LaRoss Nelson at the Batesville Animal Control office at 255 W. College St.
By Andrea Bruner, White River Now
Some Westside postal customers are reportedly not receiving mail because of loose dogs in the area, but Batesville Animal Control Officer LaRoss Nelson said unleashed dogs is an issue that is not confined to just one neighborhood.
At the Oct. 7 city council meeting, Alderwoman Julie Hinkle brought up the issue, stating that a couple of citizens had reached out to her after mail carriers were bitten by dogs in Westside. The U.S. Postal Service has the right to refuse to deliver mail due to safety concerns; this means recipients would have to go to the post office to pick up mail, including packages, until the issue is resolved.
At that meeting, Hinkle also said she wanted to clarify the office’s hours because of not being able to reach someone in the office. The city hired Jessica Martin in August to fill the Assistant Animal Control Officer position. Besides Nelson and Martin, there is also a third employee.
Batesville Animal Control, located at 255 W. College St., is open to the public from noon to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. The phone number is 870-698-2424.
By city ordinance, a license fee is required to be paid on all dogs and cats at least three months old, and in order to secure a license, the owner must provide proof of rabies vaccination from a licensed veterinarian. Animals are not permitted to be at large (off the property and not on a leash, or “under the control of a competent person”).
The ordinance also states, “Animals that cannot be returned or claimed by their owner, shall be held for a period of three working days after the owner has received certified notification that said animal has been impounded at the Department of Animal Control. If reasonable effort to locate the owner of any impounded animal has failed, the animal may be released to a suitable person, pursuant to this ordinance, or euthanized after the 10th day of impoundment.”
Nelson, who has been with the city for 11 years, said they average more than one dog pickup a day. Animal control picked up 280 dogs and 146 cats in 2023, and 291 dogs and 162 cats in 2024. As of Sept. 30, the city has picked up 156 dogs and 126 cats so far this year.
“Those are just animals we bring in, not the total number of cases we deal with,” Nelson said. “Sometimes we’re able to find the owner. That’s a big push in animal control right now – field operations, return-to-owner (also known as RTO), and preventing them from coming to the shelter to keep the numbers down.”
Nelson said the city does try to find the owners of animals captured, but many don’t come with collars, tags, or microchips. In those cases, they put the animals up for adoption and post photos online.
“Sometimes, accidents happen. The lawn guy comes by and the gate gets left open, so the dog gets loose,” he said.
So far in 2025, he’s had five dog bite cases in the city limits, compared to eight in 2024 and four in 2023.
“They’re (dog bites) not totally out of the ordinary – they do happen,” Nelson said. “Sometimes, they happen with aggressive dogs, and those are treated a little differently, but sometimes it’s a case where they had the nephew over and he accidentally stepped on the tail of a dog who nicked him. Anytime a tooth enters the skin, it is considered a bite, and we do have to investigate.”
Nelson said each case is different and the circumstances leading up to the bite vary. If someone seeks medical attention for a bite, Nelson said the hospital/clinic is required to alert the Department of Health. From there, the case comes to Nelson for investigation for the potential of rabies.
If he cannot confirm the animal was vaccinated for rabies, the animal will be quarantined for 10 days, either at his office or the owner’s home. “To my knowledge, there’s only been one rabid dog in the Batesville area in the past couple of years, and that was at Southside. A man came home from lunch, and the dog was acting weird, got aggressive with him, got it off him, and the other dog ended up killing it. He recalls the dog got into a tussle with a skunk a week prior. Skunks are our number one vector animal (transmitter or carrier of rabies).”
Nelson said there was an incident on Wycough Street in west Batesville in which a mail carrier was bitten. Nelson said he received information after the victim went to the doctor, who in turn sent it on to the Department of Health.
That was the point that Nelson was contacted, so he went to investigate and discovered there was more than a loose dog on the street, and each of the residents said it wasn’t their dog but the “other person’s.”
“The postal worker didn’t know which dog it was, so both dogs were kept put up. … Both of those houses are not getting their mail currently because there are dogs running amuck, but neither dog has ever been clearly aggressive – that one came out of left field.”
One witness said this was the 500 block of Wycough. After that, according to Hinkle, the post office stopped delivering mail to the residents on Wycough, and she has not heard if the situation has been sorted out.
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Sarah Gay, who works in West Batesville, said she herself has had some close calls with dogs in the city that were not on leashes.
“Animal control is supposed to pick up strays, especially aggressive ones that could hurt someone. That’s what they’re supposed to do, but I haven’t seen it since I’ve been here,” she said, explaining that she has lived in the area for 12 years.
“I feel like the problem has gotten worse –– I see people walk around with golf clubs and baseball bats. … I’ve seen stray dogs or loose dogs go after people walking by, and sometimes the dogs are walking on a leash,” Gay added.
“I don’t think we have a particular issue with Westside. We’ve had two, the most recent being on Oct. 9,” when an individual on Greg Street was bitten, according to Nelson.
Following that incident, the dog was quarantined. Nelson said from what he understood, the owners of the dog had left for work, and their daughter was watching the grandchild and a neighbor boy play in the front yard.
The daughter’s friend came over, and while they were talking at the door, the dog ran out. “To me, it sounds like the dog was playing, but it ended up knocking the kid over. The grandfather of the other boy was fearful that the dog was going to attack the grandson; he rushed over and was going to get the dog off. There was a scuffle, and he got a minor wound on his knee. … It took all of half a second, could have been a scrape, could have been a bite.”
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Depending on the severity of the bite and the frequency of reports of aggression, a case may end up in Independence County District Court, Nelson said.
Citations can run between $150 and $500.
Nelson said he has written eight tickets so far this year – one was for having a pitbull in city limits, for example, while another was for a cat running loose in a subdivision.
“I’m probably a little lenient on tickets. That’s a lot of money, and a lot of people are struggling right now. I’m not trying to rub salt in the wound. If I can help you take care of a dog, I’d rather do that. If we can donate dog food, if we can donate a doghouse, help out with bedding, or get them in contact with a low-cost vaccination clinic or spay/neuter, we’d rather do that.”
Nelson said there have been a few instances when an animal could not be captured or tracked down, and the victim had to undergo a series of post-exposure rabies vaccinations involving multiple injections around the bite and the abdomen. “It’s a lot worse than the pre-exposure. … It’s gnarly.”
He said there have been instances in which victims received treatment before the quarantine ended, even though the animals were not showing signs of rabies.
Nelson said he knows that emotions can flare in certain bite situations.
“We had a wolfdog a few years back (in the city limits). It was the uncle’s dog, and the sister brought the niece over – they wanted the dog and the niece to be friendly, and the dog could protect her. They were in the kitchen and had the dog on a chain, and they were introducing the dog. The dog was able to lunge and get the girl right on the face. That was probably the worst bite I’ve ever seen.”
“A lot of people get bit by a dog, and they feel the animal should be killed right away. I don’t think that’s always fair to the animal – but it’s fair in some cases. I remember a case a few years back, where the family had a barbecue, and the dog, a rottweiler, was in the back. A boy had gotten a stick and was beating the dog, and the dog bit him on the hand to make him drop the stick. That was it, that was the bite. The father of the boy that got bit was just vehement that dog be killed, but the reality was the dog was defending itself. I understand that people want the animal to be euthanized, and sometimes that does happen, but ultimately, we have to see the totality of the facts leading up to the bite and the outcome of it. That dog was quarantined and released. The dog was fine, not aggressive at all.”
“If it’s dog-on-dog, it’s purely civil,” he noted, and if a person is bitten, they may still sue for hospital bills, etc. “Not every dog that bites is deemed vicious.”
Those that are deemed vicious, however, are euthanized, Nelson said.
In addition, Nelson said they are seeing a lot of sickness in the area, and his goal is to get a low-cost vaccination clinic set up in the future.
Batesville Animal Control does not have a licensed vet on staff, so it cannot administer rabies vaccinations. He said he would like to change the state law so that animal control officers could also administer the vaccines.
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Amanda Gay (no relation to Sarah Gay) is an active volunteer in the animal community, fostering for the Humane Society of Independence County and Wiley’s Road Home.
“This issue is close to my heart. I know that Animal Control in town has a big part to play,” she said. “I want the department to have the resources it needs to do good and help the community,” but she said she’s not sure if the city needs more funding or more staff, or something else.
“It’s too big of an issue – it can’t be just one or two people.”
She said she lives within the city limits and sees a lack of community outreach. “People need education and access to spay and neuter clinics. There is a big hole to fill – we have so many strays.”
Gay said she recently fostered a mama dog and her 14 puppies, and she’s sure the employees and volunteers are tired.
She said she would like to see more animals brought through Nelson’s office, spayed and neutered. “It’s necessary for people and for the safety of animals. … How can we help them do their job more efficiently? … Is it a funding issue? Are they supposed to do this? Is that something we can instigate? Help us help you.”
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Nelson said while some cities have mandatory spay/neuter ordinances or license fees that are substantially higher for unspayed and unneutered animals – Batesville has nothing like that.
“I wish we did,” Nelson said. “Last month we brought in 51 cats, and it’s all mamas and babies – just a ton of kittens in the last month. If we had more spayed and neutered, there would be a lot less (animals running free).”
And ultimately, Nelson said he doesn’t go around just looking to pick up or keep animals at his office. He said Batesville is somewhat unique because it has its own shelter, while many cities do not. “They’re usually partnered with an existing shelter. …
“We want dogs to go home – I don’t want to warehouse them. The big push in animal control now is return to owner. The less animals we have, the less we potentially have to euthanize,” Nelson added.
All images by Andrea Bruner, White River Now
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