VIDALIA — As more and more citizens voice complaints about feral animals around the parish, local officials are starting to take notice.

Residents have recently approached both the Ferriday Town Council and the Concordia Parish Police Jury to express their fears that stray dogs and other animals may harm them or their children.

“Our biggest fear is that a child will be killed or maimed before something is done about it,” Concordia Animal Welfare Shelter director Lisa Smith said.

Ferriday Police Chief Richard Madison said he is aware of the problem.

“If you come to Ferriday at 2 a.m. when I’m patrolling the streets, you’ll find a flock of dogs just lying in the street, and they won’t move if you blow your horn,” he said. “You have to get out and make them move yourself if you don’t want to run over them.”

For the most part, the dogs are not vicious, but they are a nuisance, Madison said.

The Concordia Parish Police Jury recently voted to send notice to all parish municipalities and Sheriff Randy Maxwell to call a meeting to address the issue.

The ideal solution would probably be for the state to designate the entire parish an animal control district — similar to mosquito abatement districts — so an animal control program could receive tax funding, Secretary Russell Wagoner said.

The police jury tried to call a similar meeting in the past, but representatives from only two municipalities came to that meeting.

The two contributing factors to the feral animal problem are overpopulation and poverty, Smith said.

“On average, it costs $125 to have an animal spayed or neutered in an area veterinary clinic,” she said. “People who have very little income and who have to choose between food and veterinary care are going to choose food.”

Simply enforcing the law, Smith said, can reduce the animal control problem.

“If they wrote tickets for loose animals the way they write tickets for speeding or traffic violations, the program could be funded,” she said.

An opinion written in 2000 by the former attorney general states parishes are obligated to provide some kind of impound facility for seized animals.

It also states law enforcement officials — including sheriffs, constables and police officers — must seize any unaccompanied, roving animals wearing collars.

In Ferriday, the solution may be to use some grant funds to try to buy equipment, get a dual-purpose vehicle and assign an officer a secondary duty of animal control, Madison said.

“In the end, everything is money,” he said. “You can’t run any program without money, but we know the importance of getting these stray dogs off the street.”