Off leash dogs
Animal control is under the Health Department. If you do want to file a complaint, that is where you should direct it. With the increase in dog bite instances in Maplewood, they are apt to be quite responsive. Regarding the off leash dog(s) in the Clinton School yard, alert the School Board of the practice since the school district is a separate jurisdiction from the town.
This is not an animal control issue. It's a police issue.
The animal owner is breaking the law.
That being said, Maplewood PD refuses to enforce the leash law in Memorial Park.
Love my dog, love dogs generally, but these owners are also oblivious to the fact that some people are afraid of dogs and are entitled to walk around without fear of being approached by an unleashed dog. This is a problem in the Reservation where unleashed dogs abound. I used to walk our dogs on the trails and there was an incident where two days in a row, a lady had her dog off leash and it attacked, or tried to attack, my dog. Another time a guy's dog came at me in cold weather and got its mouth on one of my gloves and wouldn't stop pulling. Don't know if it was an attempted bite but it definitely was not friendly.
Thanks all. I will try all three - school board, PD, health department.
I have found the MPD more responsive when I mentioned that the off-leash dogs were near kids. As indicated above, they didn't seem to care if it was occurring in the parks generally. But when I said two dogs were running around leashless in the playground where there were kids, an officer arrived almost immediately.
For the record, Maplewood's ACO has been Animal Control Solutions. The organization handles 60 towns, has no shelter, will not tell you where they take animals, just generally explains they use different vets and shelters. When I explained that as 501C3 cat rescue, I get inquiries so could the just tell me where they take South Orange animals for at least the 7 day hold. The person said, no, because in the past people; have protested the vets. So clearly after the legal 7 day hold, all bets are off.
I'm speaking to South Orange in hopes to revert to a more compassionate solution.
They also don't bother with TNR, a growing issue, and they charge for each and everything they do, plus a significant monthly fee. Yet we have a shelter built by donations sitting there.
This is getting to be a problem around here, this morning while walking my dog I observed THREE dogs off leash. One in the Clinton school yard, another right next to Clinton in the street (both playing catch with their people), and a third is a guy I have seen several times walking his dog off leash. He lets the leash drag on the ground while he seems preoccupied with other things. My dog gets very nervous around off leash dogs and as this is my neighborhood I am beginning to find it unsafe to walk him. I am limited in the times I am able to walk him so switching to a different time isn't really feasible.
Off leash dogs are always illegal on public property or the street; the Clinton School issue is compounded in that even on leash dogs aren't allowed on school property. The woman I saw on the street with her dog today is on the grounds playing with her dog almost every day.
I looked at the Maplewood PD page to see how to file a complaint and they said all animal complaints are referred to the Animal Control Officer. I seem to remember reading here that we don't have that any more, or something. So curious what would actually happen if I lodged a complaint.
I want to be clear that in general I don't narc on people. The situation is just getting out of hand and I need someone to explain to these people that what they are doing is against the law. I can't really do that .. as I said my dog is nervous around off leash dogs so the last thing I want to do is approach these folks.