Eldridge couple, pets get reprieve
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By David Heitz | Wednesday, December 06, 2006 |
ELDRIDGE, Iowa — An Eldridge couple who had been given until Tuesday to get rid of half their dogs can spend another two weeks with their beloved pooches.
Dennis and Janet Dammann, who live on a 6-acre rural oasis in the middle of the booming Scott County town, are in violation of a city ordinance adopted in May that allows a total of four cats and dogs at each residence. The Dammanns have eight dogs, including six Shih Tzus, a Rottweiler-pit bull mix and a golden retriever.
Police Chief Martin Stolmeier said he granted the Dammanns a two-week extension because they are making a good-faith effort to comply with the law. “They’re in the process of getting this abated and the situation taken care of. We’re trying to get the situation corrected in the most pleasant way we can,” he said.
The couple also had too many cats to count living on their property, originally a farm which they have gradually sold off to developers who have built upscale neighborhoods in recent years. At the insistence of the Eldridge Police Department, the Dammanns got rid of the cats by trapping them and taking the felines to a farm out in the country.
Police officers visited the Dammanns twice about the cats and a third time last week about the dogs. Janet Dammann became distraught upon learning she would have to get rid of more of her animals. She expected she would be able to find homes for two of the Shih Tzus, but feared she might have to euthanize the older dogs, Ubu, 12, and Bear, 11. After a story about her plight was published in Monday’s Quad-City Times, about 30 people called her and offered to help.
“The response from people who have called here has been overwhelming,” she said. “I know a lot of people are on our side, but there are other ones who don’t like us. I guess we were the talk of Casey’s General Store the other day.”
She would like the older dogs to be placed in the same home together. “Bear and Ubu are just like siblings. Brothers can get along so good for a while and all of a sudden they get in a big fight.”
She said it will be difficult to let some of her dogs go. “Lacy, a female shih tzu, when she goes, it’s going to be rough. I’m going to cry. She’s part of the family. And the big boys, that’s going to be hard, too. They’re with my husband every day outside.”
The big dogs “are literally couch potatoes,” she said. “They sleep in the same pen, and we have two old couches that we moved out there. They each have their own couch to sleep on.”
Eldridge police have been enforcing the animal ordinance on a complaint basis. Those found in violation of the law are fined $65. Police then check back to see if the situation has been rectified, and if it hasn’t, the owner will be fined again, possibly more than $65 the second time.
“We’re not staking out their houses, or anything like that, but I have an officer who will follow up down the road,” Stolmeier said.
Dammann fears the city may next ask her to get rid of some of her horses or goats. “We’re just kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop.”
David Heitz can be contacted at (563) 383-2202 or dheitz@qctimes.com.
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