Cape ponders task force on animal rules

The city council may establish a task force to consider possible revisions to Cape Girardeau's animal-control law as it also looks to grant a temporary special-use permit to allow a Cape Girardeau couple to comply with a new limit on the number of dogs and cats that city residents can own.

The council will hold a public hearing tonight on the request of Jenny and Stephen Stigers for a special-use permit to keep their five dogs, foster care for additional animals as needed and allow for housing friends' or relatives' pets for up to a week at their home at 1343 Big Bend Road.

The couple had asked for a special-use permit to operate a commercial kennel, as spelled out in a new animal-control law that limits the number of pets a person can own to no more than four dogs and four cats.

But the Planning and Zoning Commission last month recommended the council approve only a temporary 90-day permit while it considers possibly revising the pet law.

Councilman Charlie Herbst said he doesn't see the need to grant a temporary permit when the law allows for a permanent permit.

Herbst said he likes the special-use permit process because it allows residents to voice their views on requests of neighbors who want to keep a large number of dogs or cats. That will help protect neighborhoods from pet nuisances, he said.

But Mayor Jay Knudtson said a temporary permit should be considered if the council establishes an animal-control task force as recommended by city staff. Knudtson said city manager Doug Leslie also has recommended formation of a second task force that would address nuisance issues. Knudtson said the council would likely discuss the task force idea at tonight's meeting.

A proposed animal-control task force could make recommendations to change the new law. But Knudtson said such revisions won't change the basic requirement limiting the number of pets allowed in a household.

The council, he said, remains committed to the four-dog, four-cat limit.

The Stigers had asked for a permanent special-use permit. "We are seeking a permanent solution, not a temporary solution," Jenny Stigers said.

The city's new animal-control law includes a grandfather clause that allows residents who owned more than four dogs or cats before enactment of the law on Aug. 12 to keep those animals without being in violation.

While that would cover the Stigers' five dogs, the exemption wouldn't apply to the couple providing foster care for stray animals or even temporarily housing the pets of friends and relatives who might visit for several days, Jenny Stigers said.

As a result, Stigers said they want a special-use permit to be in compliance with the new law.

But Stigers and some of her neighbors in the Big Bend Road area don't like the fact the law defines such special-use permit operations as commercial kennels.

They would prefer the law be changed to more accurately define households with a large number of pets.

"We don't plan to have any commercial entity at our residence," Jenny Stigers said. "We just want to be able to continue a compassionate approach to animals."

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123