Licensed dog pound up and running in Miner

MINER -- The city of Miner now has a licensed dog pound and for the first time a clear guide for animal control activities in writing. Now would be a good time for pet owners to get their animal licenses in place.

The city's animal control policies and procedures were approved Tuesday evening during the Miner Board of Aldermen's regular monthly meeting while the city's holding facility for stray animals picked up by city officials was back in business just a few hours before that.

"We've got our pound up to code," said City Clerk Darrin Skinner. "We got our license Tuesday."

Accomplishing those had for some time appeared to be beyond the city's means.

During an April 2013 Board of Aldermen meeting, an alderman advised it would cost the city about $50,000 to build a kennel that complied with state requirements.

The problem may have just been a matter of terminology, however.

According to the Missouri Department of Agriculture's Animal Care Program website, a "contract kennel," for example, is defined as "any facility operated by any person or entity other than the state or any political subdivision of the state, for the purpose of impounding or harboring seized, stray, homeless, abandoned or unwanted animals, on behalf of and pursuant to a contract with the state or any political subdivision."

But the animal holding facility actually needed by the city is listed as a "pound" by the state ag department ands defined as "a facility operated by the state or any political subdivision of the state for the purpose of impounding or harboring seized, stray, homeless, abandoned, or unwanted animals."

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