The Ector County Sheriff’s Office picks up stray animals

ODESSA, Texas (KOSA) - On Monday, March 17, the Ector County Sheriff’s Department posted on their Facebook page about a stray horse their animal control picked up.

The Sheriff’s Office says they pick up stray animals about once a week.

These animals include typical farm animals like horses, donkeys, goats and cows, or common household pets like dogs and cats.

“Usually it’s an animal that will wander up to someone’s property, that doesn’t belong to them, they don’t know who owns it so they’ll call us. We’ll go out there, gather the animal up. We’ve got some locations that will store the animals for us. Feed them, take care of them,” said the Ector County Sheriff Mike Griffis.

These animals are then posted to Facebook to try to reunite them with their owner’s.

Owners have 10 days after the animal is posted to claim it.

“That should be enough time for somebody, if they’re actually missing an animal, to look and find that the animals been found and we have it in our possession,” Griffis said.

When claiming the animal, the owner will be responsible for paying the individual that has been looking after the animal on behalf of the Sheriff’s Office.

If a farm animal is not claimed within 10 days they are auctioned off.

“Most of these animals, we get one or two bids. You’re talking maybe $10 to $100 dollars most of the time,” said Griffis.

Any money received from the auction of an animal is put back into the Sheriff’s Animal Control program.

If a house pet isn’t claimed, the Sheriff’s Department tries to find a place in a local animal shelter for them.

“All the shelters are always full and it costs a lot of money for them to take care of those animals and there’s not enough rescues around, in the entire country, to take care of all the stray animals,”Griffis said.

With space as limited as it is, most have to be euthanized.

The Sheriff’s Department believes some of these animals are let go on purpose after the owner doesn’t want them, or can’t afford them anymore.

The Sheriff’s Office asks people to find animals a new home if they no longer want them, to keep them off the street and keep both them and the community safe.