Franklin County BOC Approves County’s First-Ever Animal Control Ordinance
After months of working and reworking, Franklin County has its first-ever official county-approved animal control ordinance.
At the June Board of Commissioners meeting on Monday night, Commissioners voted unanimously to pass the four-page document.
Before the vote, the Board heard from attorney Prya Patel with Jarrard & Davis LLC, who briefly outlined some adjustments to the latest version.
Patel also reviewed for the BOC the fee/fine structure for violations of the ordinance.
Another part of the ordinance includes an intergovernmental agreement with the Northeast Georgia Animal Shelter in Lavonia to house dogs picked up by the Marshal’s office. Patel said she is still working with the attorneys for the Shelter on the IGA.
In June 2025, County Marshal Chief Doug Forrester came before the Board requesting a formal animal control ordinance.
The request came as citizens came before the Board to complain of vicious dogs, stray dogs, and packs of dogs attacking livestock. Citizens recounted stray packs of dogs killing their pets and terrorizing an elderly woman in Gumlog, who, as a result, was afraid to leave her home, to nuisance and stray dogs in Carnesville, as well as accounts by the County Marshal of packs of dogs getting into pastures and killing livestock.
https://921wlhr.com/franklin-county-marshal-says-animal-control-is-needed/
At the time, Forrester said he and his officers had no authority to cite the owners of those dogs or pick up nuisance animals.
Forrester and Commissioner Wanda Thompson, a veterinarian, researched other animal control ordinances in neighboring counties to come up with what had been a 23-page document based on sections of ordinances taken from other counties, which was reviewed by former County Attorney Jack Samuels and submitted to the Board.
From there, Commissioner Thompson and Forrester began working on an ordinance and put together a 19-page ordinance, which they submitted to the Commissioners in the fall of 2025. Commissioners made numerous edits over months until, by late April 2026, it was a much shorter version of the original.
At the April work session, Commissioners indicated they were prepared to pass the scaled-down version of Thompson’s proposed ordinance at the May regular meeting.
But at the May meeting, Commission Chair Courtney Long and Commissioner Elizabeth Busby presented, and the Board passed, a one-page referendum that only covered giving the Marshal’s office authority to address vicious dogs.
At that meeting, Long called the Thompson’s version “overreach” and said she saw no need for anything more than the one-page referendum addressing vicious dogs.
However, a previous Board of Commissioners had already passed a vicious dog ordinance in 2014 after a woman was brutally attacked by a pack of pitbulls, which it was later learned had been used for fighting. Like the referendum presented in May, it did not give the County Marshal any authority to address other animal control issues.
Finally, at their May work session, the Board brought back and discussed the 4-page version of Thompson’s animal control ordinance that gives the Marshal’s office the authority to cite and/or fine irresponsible dog owners for roaming dogs at large, nuisance animals, and vicious animals.
Forrester tells WLHR News he’s glad the ordinance is in place so his office can move forward.
The issue of instituting an animal control ordinance has come up before the County Board of Commissioners in years past, but except for the vicious dog issue, it was never approved. And the problem of stray, vicious, and nuisance dogs, as well as rabies confirmed in pets, is not new to Franklin County. Nor is the problem of animal cruelty, hoarding, and neglect. Over the years, WLHR News has documented cases of dog attacks and citizens’ asking the County to institute an animal control ordinance, but it always fell on deaf ears.
https://921wlhr.com/franklin-boc-considers-tougher-animal-control-ordinance/
https://921wlhr.com/animal-control-officer-added-to-franklin-county-marshalls-duties/
https://921wlhr.com/local-business-owner-petitions-county-for-leash-law/
https://921wlhr.com/dog-attack-owner-cited-by-franklin-county-marshal/
https://921wlhr.com/franklin-county-man-attacked-by-dog/
https://921wlhr.com/franklin-county-woman-mauled-by-rabid-cat/
https://921wlhr.com/carnesville-woman-attacked-by-pit-bulls/
https://921wlhr.com/over-30-cats-taken-from-hoarding-situation-in-franklin-county/
Critics of the ordinance said since Franklin County is made up mostly of farms, there was no need for animal control, and farmers worried their dogs would be picked up by Marshals just for running on their own property or be told, as Long, a cattle and poultry farmer said, would be told by the Marshal how to take care of their animals.
Commissioner Thompson insisted that it would not be the case.
But supporters, most of whom live in more concentrated neighborhoods and subdivisions across the county, said something had to be done to control the stray and nuisance dog issue.
The new animal control ordinance goes into effect immediately.
A May 26, 2026, draft of the new ordinance is posted on the Franklin County website and can be viewed here. The final version has not yet been published.