Port Royal adopts new animal rules

The town of Port Royal adopted Beaufort County’s new animal rules Wednesday, requiring pit bulls and pit mixes to be spayed or neutered. Moving forward, the county will provide animal control.

The new rules are already in place in unincorporated Beaufort County after the ordinance passed last year. Hilton Head Island has adopted the ordinance, and the city of Beaufort asked for more time to study the new terms.

Port Royal Town Council voted unanimously Tuesday to replace its current ordinance with the county’s. Council voted separately to include town-specific provisions for leashing, waste removal and chickens elsewhere in its code.

“The benefit to the town going forward now is that we have animal control,” Councilman Tom Klein said. “Now the county can handle it countywide, because every municipality hopefully will have the same animal control.

The county’s ordinance allows dogs off leashes on the beach, to appease Hilton Head. Port Royal will continue to require dogs leashed on the Sands.

The town will be responsible for ensuring residents pick up after their pets. Residents are allowed up to six chickens, with no roosters and provisions for placement of coops and feed.

The new rules will be enforced in the town by Beaufort County animal control officers. The town’s code related to leash, waste and chicken rules would be enforced by Port Royal police.

Port Royal had been responsible for enforcing animal violations in recent years after an agreement with the county lapsed. Klein said the only potential issue is a limited number of animal control officers available to cover the county but noted plans to add another officer.

Klein asked that the county provide a regular report on the number and nature of violations.

“Since it is a hot issue,” Klein said. “I’d like to have that added in.”

The county’s new rules require pit bulls to be spayed or neutered, and added provisions cover licensing and microchipping. County animal officials say the sterilization rule is necessary to cut down on the number of dogs impounded and euthanized.

Beaufort County Animal Services director Tallulah Trice told council members in December that 50 percent of the animals taken into the county shelter from Port Royal are pit bulls and the rest are cats.

“We can’t do anything with (the pit bulls),” Trice said. “We’re just euthanizing the problem away.”

The ordinance includes methods of appealing breed determinations and dangerous animal notices in Beaufort County Magistrate Court.

The new law has been challenged.

A greater Bluffton woman appealed a notice from this past November that her dog met the definition of a pit bull and must be spayed. Gabriela Gonzalez has since agreed not to fight the breed determination but is arguing Magistrate Court doesn’t have the jurisdiction to hear the case, assistant county attorney Allison Coppage said.

The court upheld another animal notice Wednesday, saying Lady’s Island resident Suneela Wilson’s dog is a pit bull and must be spayed. Wilson was given the notice after the dog was found unattended.

She told the judge the dog didn’t belong to her.

This story was originally published March 9, 2016 at 1:14 PM with the headline "Port Royal adopts new animal rules."