ODESSA, Texas — West Texas has had its problems with loose animals for a very long time.
Which is why Odessa is going to start cracking down and enforcing a city ordinance regarding animals within city limits.
The city ordinance, which the city says started in November 2023, says all pets are required to be spayed and neutered while also being microchipped.
It will also limit the amount of animals that can be held in one household to four.
Spaying and neutering pets limits their ability to breed, which the city hopes will curb the overpopulation that leads dogs and cats to the streets. It also prevents illness like cancer later on down the animals life.
A microchip allows the Odessa Animal Shelter to quickly identify who the owner of the pet is and send it back to it's home instead of keeping it in the shelter.
All of these can be done through either Odessa Animal Services or a local veterinarian. The city says it will be up to citizens to get these actions done.
The ordinance was heavily discussed in the Summer of 2023 and was only passed in October 2023, which led to some people asking questions as to what it was.
“The people of Odessa seem to be confused," Fix West Texas Executive Director Karen Patterson said. "We've been getting a lot of messages, a lot of Facebook comments, they're confused why they didn't know about this earlier from their elected officials and what the consequences are going to be and how long they have to comply.”
As for what took so long to get the ordinance passed and in effect, Odessa City Councilman Greg Connell says a good amount of government red tape needed to be cleared.
“There's a procedure that we go through," Connell said. "It has to be brought to council, it has to be listened to for the ordinance change, it has to be voted on once. Then on another session it has to be voted on twice and then it goes to the attorneys to look into it and revise the ordinance.”
Starting in January, Odessa Animal Services will begin to add more animal control agents to better enforce the ordinance.
That starts with how animals can be sold.
“There's going to be breeder permits and seller permits," Odessa Animal Shelter Manager Kelley Hendricks said. "We have a problem with a lot of people coming in from out of town selling indiscriminately throughout the city. We've always supposed to have itinerary and vendor permits but these are actual breeder permits.”
Permits can be applied for through the Odessa Animal Services or through the Odessa Animal Shelter.
According to the city, this will be enforced on a case-by-case situation. If they see an animal on the streets, they will take action, but if they receive a complaint about a certain household, they'll investigate.
"Much like an other kind of ordinance or law that you have on the books, we're not going to go door to door looking for these animals," Hendricks said. "When we come across them, we'll have to address it. We'll give warning notices, we'll give the people something to know that they' re going to have to have this done within a certain amount of time."
If the city does receive a complaint from someone regarding overpopulated animals, that’s when they’ll step in with potential consequences.
“They can receive citations down to municipal court for violating city ordinance as with any other ordinance," Hendricks said. "It's just like running a stop sign, parking issues, it's along the same lines.”
Odessa Animal Services and the City of Odessa plan on putting more information about the ordinance on their social media platforms during the week of Jan. 1.