CLEWISTON — Dogs and cats were a hot topic during the Oct. 21 Clewiston City Commission meeting.

The commission board has been working on an amendment to the code of ordinances regarding both animals running at large and the unregulated sale of cats and dogs. A public hearing on the amendment was set for the Nov. 18 meeting.

Police Chief Tom Lewis gave the board a brief overview of the proposed amendment, giving details about both sections separately.

First, he spoke about animals running at large. He said the policy now is to trap, vaccinate, neuter and then release these animals where they were trapped. “They (cats) are territorial animals and ultimately the purpose is to reduce the overall stray cat population.” He said the first year they implemented the program, they took in 703 cats during the first nine months of the year. In the second year, the number was reduced to 479, a 31-32% decrease. In 2024, the number of cats taken during the first nine months was 389, another reduction of almost 19%. Since the program began, they have seen a reduction of almost 45% reduction in the number of stray cats. “It’s clear from the data that this program works. We are effectively reducing the stray animal population,” he said. Unfortunately, he added. The dog count has risen.

He went on to explain that this program, in the long run, reduces the tax burden for the community. The chief also clarified that the cats are normally returned to the location where they were trapped, but in the rare cases where a citizen is allergic or there is some other problem, the cats are taken to a farm or ranch and released. This is done with the farm/ranch owners’ permission.

Cats are never trapped in the county and then released in the city.

The chief said after reviewing the ordinance, they realized the TMVR program violates the ordinance and needs to be fixed.

He added that the ordinance would remain the same but allow an exception for the city’s TMVR program.

The second change the chief requested involved the unregulated sale of dogs and cats. He told the board the shelter became a no-kill shelter in June of 2021, and since that time, more than 4100 animals have entered the shelter. Of those animals, 1968 were dogs. About 1300 were stray dogs. “We are a known dumping site for the east coast unfortunately.” He went on to say there are massive numbers of backyard breeders in the area. He explained that these people have no business licenses and do not pay taxes. “Typically, we see the dogs are in horrendous conditions, not everyone, but a vast majority.” He went on to give an example. “One breeder, out in Montura, where we got 67 dogs off the property, and some of those dogs were living in the most insane conditions, by anybody’s standard.” He said they want to address things like that, not only for the health and wellbeing of the animal population and the human population of Hendry County, but also to help reduce the number of dog intakes at the shelter and the tax burden of the community.

The ordinance is not to address legitimate businesses but those who are unlicensed and not checked by the health department.

The chief would like to make it a crime to sell an animal unless you are licensed, period.

Commissioner Greg Thompson said he did not think there were any breeders even remotely like the one in Montura. He went on to say he lived there for most of his life and never saw any backyard breeders to the scale the chief described. He said he did not want to prevent someone from breeding their own dog if they wanted to. He said he felt it was over-reaching to require that person to get a business license. “We’re having a hard enough time managing food trucks, let alone if a couple decides to breed dogs in their home.”

Commissioner Mali Gardner said she did support the change to the ordinance, because even if there was not a issue in Clewiston now, they might have a problem in the future. In addition, the change would prevent outsiders from coming in and selling without a license.

The chief said any law passed would require “reasonable” enforcement of that law. “This isn’t about, haha got you because your dog accidentally got pregnant when it got loose,” he said. “this is about folks who are not paying taxes, don’t have a proper business, and they are simply doing it on the side.”

The chief hopes to get the new ordinance passed in the city, and then approach the county to see if they would be interested in passing something similar.

Commissioner Thompson asked if he was selling quilts on the side of the road, would he be breaking the law.

The chief said the problem is that the unintended consequences of hobby breeding often wind up in the shelter. “Quilters don’t wind up in our shelter. If you throw your quilt away, the taxpayer doesn’t really have a burden.”

He said violation of the ordinance would be a misdemeanor.

Commissioner Hilary Hyslope said every other business has to have a license.

The mayor agreed and said it is difficult to separate the family who wanted to have one litter of puppies to sell and the ones who breed litter after litter.

The board agreed to discuss the possible change at the next meeting. They requested City Manager Danny Williams check with the county to see if they were having the same problem the city is experiencing. In addition, the ordinance will be changed to include language discussed during this meeting.