By BETHANY HELDMAN, guest columnist
You’ve heard of farm to table, but have you heard of farm to family?
Before I dive in, let me introduce myself: My name is Bethany Heldman and I am the animal control officer for Brown County. I work out of the Brown County Sheriff’s Department. I respond to domestic animal complaints and investigate allegations of animal abuse or neglect.
I have been at the department for about four years, but I grew up in the northern part of Brown County and still call it home today.
As your county animal control officer, I save people from animals and animals from people. I am so lucky.
About 20 percent of the calls or complaints I have responded to this year involved livestock or farm animals. Then about 25 percent of all calls I have responded to this year involve animals with no known owner.
Legally, animals are personal property. This means there must be due process in attempting to locate an owner in the case of at-large animals or that animals can be held as evidence in the case of criminal investigations. Unlike other items of personal property that can sit on a shelf or in an evidence locker, animals must be cared for in a different way.
Livestock, by legal definition, can include any of the following: Cattle, pigs, sheep, horses, mules, donkeys, goats, poultry, emus, ostriches, rhea, camels, llamas, alpacas, farm raised deer and elk, bison, aquatic animals and rabbits.
Brown County is blessed with, in my opinion, one of the best humane societies in our area. Local dogs and cats are in some of the most capable and caring hands when they land at the Brown County Humane Society. Currently there is no rescue, shelter or other organization in Brown County that will take livestock if they are found in the same debacle as dogs and cats whose owners cannot be located or who are evidence in a criminal case.
Brown County does not have a county-owned or operated animal care facility and instead contracts with our local shelter for dogs and cats. Brown County Animal Control and the humane society work together in a wonderful way, but are two separate entities.
This is where farm to family comes in. I am calling on Brown County families who would be interested in volunteering as a foster family for livestock until their owner is located or ownership is dissolved.
Our county animal control ordinance states that any animal that is not claimed within five days becomes property of the county and can be rehomed. The goal is always to reunite animals with their owner, but sometimes that does not happen and I am faced with the situation of finding proper care and housing for these animals.
Sometimes it takes a couple days to be reunited with an owner, but animals still need cared for in that time. In the case of animals who become property of the county, the time period care is needed could range from a few weeks to a few months.
A livestock foster would not have to be able to take each kind of animal. Have a chicken coop that isn’t being used and time to care for some chickens? I can put you on the poultry list. Have a couple horses of your own, but an empty stall? I can get you on the horse list. Have a barn, secure fence and some overgrown pasture? You guessed it, I can get you on the goat list.
While experience with these types of animals is very beneficial, I have no problem educating willing and able folks who may like to try their hand at livestock ownership with this avenue.
If you are interested in learning more about becoming a livestock foster, please reach out to me.
There will be a screening process and the need for livestock fosters may not be often, but there is a need. If you are unable to care for livestock and would be willing to foster local dogs or cats, please contact the Brown County Humane Society at 812-988-7362.
Bethany Heldman is an animal control officer with the Brown County Sheriff’s Department. She can be reached at 812-988-6655, extension 2 or at [email protected]
