Wallowa County owns a kennel behind Double Arrow Veterinary Clinic on Highway 3 on the north side of Enterprise. The county rarely keeps dogs there. A petition that began in early December 2024 wants the county to have an animal control officer.

ENTERPRISE — A new petition seeking to have Wallowa County establish a dog control district and dog control officer goes before the county board of commissioners at its Jan. 4 meeting.

As of Dec. 12, the petition had 75 signatures, said Leita Barlow, one of the concerned local residents who support the petition. She said the petition appeared on the Wallowa County Roaming Pets Facebook page Dec. 4, along with the saga of Dr. Kala Grover, formerly a veterinarian at Enterprise Veterinary Clinic. Grover has since moved to Klamath Falls.

The petition is at the Book Loft at 107 E. Main St. in Enterprise, across the street from the courthouse.

On Facebook, Grover recounted an incident from Oct. 30, 2023, when Donna and Adam Roberge were awakened by the sound of their dog, Dakota, vomiting.

Dakota, a 4-year-old pit bull-German shepherd mix — “a sweet dog,” Donna said — then had a seizure, jerking and frothing at the mouth.

The Roberges had had the dog since it was a puppy and it always had been good-tempered. But that night, something went wrong — they still don’t know what. From the time it went wild, it “looked at me and didn’t recognize me,” Adam said, according to a Chieftain story published early this year.

The Roberges called 911 and couldn’t get assistance from either the Wallowa County Sheriff’s Office or the Enterprise Police Department, they told the newspaper. Both agencies referred the Roberges to their vet — Grover.

For two hours, the 80-pound dog roamed loose in the house while the family barricaded themselves in their rooms for protection.

After fruitless attempts to get law enforcement to respond, Grover had to sneak into the house through a bedroom window to euthanize the aggressive and ailing dog.

Grover’s Facebook post told of other similar incidents and the inability to get assistance from law enforcement. Neither the city nor the county has an animal control officer.

Barlow noted the animal control taxes on property tax statements go for a government trapper to handle control of predators, such as wolves, cougars and bears.

She said the county budgets $65,000 for the government trapper.

“We’re thinking of looking at that budget more closely,” she said. “You can always find money somewhere.”

Barlow agreed an animal control officer would have to at least be on call 24/7.

“We want to make it clear what the police role is since it’s a public safety issue,” she said. “It’s (the commissioners’) job to come up with the money. … Let’s have some clarity and transparency on the money and go forward and find a solution.”

Grover found the incidents where she had to euthanize pets disheartening.

“Being a rural veterinarian is not simply a job. It was everything that made me who I was,” she said on Facebook. “I had worked for years to become one and loved it. Still, no one cared. So I quit. I walked away. And my heart will be forever broken. I am now a small-animal veterinarian working an 8-5 in a wonderful, temperature controlled clinic in Klamath Falls. I moved my whole family and walked away. I am finding new joy in veterinary medicine again, but a part of me will always be broken.”

She said Wallowa County needs to step up and do something about the problem.

“I urge my friends and family on (Facebook) to take care of those you depend on,” she said. “To step up when they are ‘not OK.’ Don’t look away from them. And I urge Wallowa County to be putting the pressure on the county officials.”

The Enterprise City Council in April referred the issue of getting an animal control officer to the county board of commissioners. But the commissioners decided they did not have the money in their budget for an officer.

Barlow said she and those putting forward the petition are not demanding anything of the county.

“This group of people are wanting to discus this issue that’s been ignored and see what we can do,” she said. “We’ve reached a tipping point. People are getting bit.”

She’s not against dogs, Barlow said.

“I have dogs, too,” she said. “It’s the aggressive dogs we’re worried about. … It’s the few people who have aggressive dogs who don’t control them is why we need this.”

She noted the owners of aggressive dogs could be fined.

“Right now, there’s no consequence,” she said. “It’s not like we have the No. 1 solution. … We’ll have to work that out as a group.”