BAKER CITY — Law enforcement agencies say there is no shortage of animal complaints in Northeast Oregon, but in most parts of the region, animal control officers are in short supply.

In Baker County, neither the sheriff’s office nor the Baker City Police Department has an officer dedicated to animal control.

In Baker City, the police department’s code enforcement officer typically handles such calls, most of which involve dogs that are loose but have not threatened people, said Sgt. Wayne Chastain of the Baker City Police.

When the code enforcement officer is not on duty, a patrol officer responds to dog calls, Chastain said.

Such calls are a daily occurrence, Chastain said, but he estimated that in about 90% of the cases the dog is loose but not acting aggressively.

Outside the Baker City limits, sheriff’s deputies deal with calls regarding loose dogs or other animals, Sheriff Travis Ash said.

Following state law, he said deputies investigate and write a report about every case in which a dog bites a person.

Those dogs are also placed in quarantine for 10 days to ensure the animal is up to date on rabies vaccinations, Ash said.

Those incidents are rare, the sheriff said.

The Baker City Council in early 2014 approved an ordinance that sets out a process under which the city can go to Baker County Circuit Court to have a dog declared dangerous.

The ordinance allows the city, under certain circumstances, to require a dog deemed to be dangerous to be kept inside a building or, when outside, be confined by a fence at least 6 feet tall.

The dog owner can also be required to maintain a minimum of $100,000 in liability insurance, to have a microchip implanted in the dog so its location can be tracked, and prove the dog’s rabies vaccination is current.

The city can also cite the owner of a dog under the ordinance.

The city council was prompted to pass the ordinance after a pit bull mauled and killed a 5-year-old boy in a Baker City backyard in September 2013.

A dog can be designated as dangerous if it bites or chases a person, domestic animal or livestock in a menacing way without provocation, or if it otherwise behaves in a manner that a reasonable person would believe poses a serious, unjustified and imminent threat of physical injury or death.

Grant County has not had an animal control officer in recent memory, according to Sheriff Todd McKinley. Currently, dealing with wayward animals — from dogs running at large to a bull wandering into a schoolyard — falls to his deputies.

While McKinley agrees it would be nice to have the services of a trained animal control expert, he’s not sure the volume of calls would justify the cost.

“There are isolated incidents, but I don’t see enough to keep somebody that busy,” he said. “(And) where do you fund it from?”

In December, the Grant County Sheriff’s Office seized a number of dogs after responding to an animal neglect complaint and boarded them with a local veterinarian, which raises another question in the sheriff’s mind.

“The seven dogs we seized cost the county about $2,000 for a month to keep them at the veterinary clinic,” McKinley said. “If you’re going to do this and you have a pound, who’s going to staff the pound?”

Umatilla County does not have an animal enforcement law, sheriff’s Capt. Paul Wolverton said. Instead, the county operates under state laws for dogs as a public nuisance and for dangerous dogs, such as dogs that are aggressive toward people or other animals.

Deputies are not dog catchers, he said, but they can issue citations under the state laws and even seize dogs.

“We have done that before in some cases,” he said.

Wolverton said he doesn’t have the staff to dedicate someone to be an animal control officer. That position also would respond to complaints about strays and abandoned animals, he said, and could be more than a full-time job.

Union County is an exception to this trend.

Unlike most jurisdictions in Northeast Oregon, the Union County Sheriff’s Office has two animal enforcement deputies on staff, according to Sheriff Cody Bowen.

These deputies each work 40 hours a week dedicated solely to handling animal-related incidents.

Animal enforcement deputies deal with a “high volume of calls,” including dogs at large and any dog bite that breaks skin. When they are not out on calls, they are serving civil paperwork.

“They have the busiest

position in the office,” Bowen said.

Patrol deputies step in to help — serving paperwork and fielding calls when the animal enforcement deputies are not on duty.

Bowen said that the animal enforcement deputies are crucial to enforcing the county’s animal control ordinances and maintaining livability.

He added that another big part of their jobs is “being an advocate for the animals.” They respond to potential animal neglect or abuse calls for both pets and livestock. This is especially true during the winter to ensure animals are being taken care of through the cold weather and getting proper nutrition.

They also respond to wolf depredation calls and work alongside the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.