One place to gauge the effect of El Paso County’s cutback in animal control is Saint Animal Rescue in Calhan.

Rescue operator Jerry Rineck said calls for strays and abandoned animals have doubled this year compared to last.

“We’re having to turn away 15 to 20 animals a month,” he said. “We never used to get that many calls.” He said he thinks about a third of the calls stem from the economy — people abandoning their animals when they move out.

Calls haven’t slowed at the Humane Society of the Pikes Region, whose contract was sharply curtailed by the county starting in February. The agency still receives an average of 14 calls per day, the same number as last year, agency spokeswoman Ann Davenport said.

“They cut our funding by more than 60 percent,” she said. “That forced us to stop providing field services directly to the citizens.”

The cutback, to $268,972, resulted in the Humane Society providing only shelter and licensing services. It responds only at the Sheriff’s Office’s request to calls about aggressive dogs, animal cruelty, injured strays, unattended deaths of people who have an animal that needs care and evictions that include animals.

“We basically refer all animal control calls to the Sheriff’s Office,” Davenport said, “and the Sheriff’s Office makes the decision of whether they have staff available to handle that.”

The Sheriff’s Office reports a 58-percent increase in calls so far this year, to 149. Dangerous dog calls doubled to 64 through July compared to the same period last year.

“It’s certainly something that’s adding to our already overwhelmed list of things to do,” said sheriff’s Lt. Lari Sevene. “We’re put in a position where we have to make a determination of what’s a priority. There certainly are people who are not pleased with response time or that we tell them we will send a deputy if and when we can.”

She said crimes against people trump animal calls.

“When we’re busy and it’s an animal complaint, it’s going to be put at the bottom of the stack,” she said.

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Representatives Mark Cloer, left, and Dave Schultheis conferred during the opening of the 120-day session of the General Assembly at the state Capitol in this file photo from 2006. Photo by KEVIN KRECK, GAZETTE FILE PHOTO

Kevin Kreck