CRAWFORD – By the time farmer Bud Holtcamp hears the barking during his pre-dawn chores, it’s already too late.
He jumps in his truck and heads toward the sound, using a spotlight to cut through the dark, but once he arrives, the pack of dogs attacking his cattle has disappeared.
“As soon as they hear my truck running … they’re gone,” Holtcamp told The Dispatch.
It’s been an ongoing issue for about two months, with the pack of roughly seven dogs recently escalating from badly injuring the cows to killing them.
“It started with just chewing their ears off and grabbing them, and then the game gets rougher,” Holtcamp said. “Pretty soon, we’ve got not only damaged or hurt cows, but we’ve got dead cattle.”
While it’s not the first time he’s dealt with animals attacking his livestock in the 50 years he’s farmed in Crawford, Holtcamp said it could certainly be the worst.
“I’m out a lot of money,” he said, estimating the attacks have cost him roughly $40,000.
About 20 head of Holtcamp’s cattle have been killed by the dogs, he said, while another 12 to 15 suffered injuries. Photos Holtcamp shared of the cows that were attacked depict bloody, missing ears, bites and caracasses.
“They’re of course traumatized,” Holtcamp said of the surviving cows. “… Instead of coming up and getting fed or whatever, they’re hiding in the ditches and the woods.”
The problem doesn’t stop at Holtcamp’s property line. Bobby Johnson, another Crawford farmer, said he’s had about six head of cattle killed by the dogs, costing him an estimated $16,000.
“It’s been happening to me about three or four years, but now it’s just (recently gotten worse),” Johnson told The Dispatch.
Both Johnson and Holtcamp have contacted law enforcement, but with no owner claiming the dogs, little has been done to remedy the issue.
“We’re not getting (any) help … to catch the dogs,” Johnson said. “We know where the dogs (are) at.
“… We can solve this problem if we just can get a little help,” he added.
No owner complicates enforcement
If a dog is chasing or killing any poultry or livestock in Mississippi, state law allows the owner of the livestock to kill the dog without facing any liability. Furthermore, the owner of the dog is required to pay the livestock owner damages for any loss suffered as a result of the dog’s action as well as the value of any the killed livestock.
The problem in Crawford is that the dogs don’t appear to have a clear owner, George Brown, theft investigator for the Mississippi Agricultural and Livestock Theft Bureau, told The Dispatch.
“(Holtcamp has) located the dogs, but the dogs supposedly don’t have an owner,” said Brown, who is investigating the incident. “The people (who live on the property) where the dogs stay, they say they’re not theirs.”
Brown said he is currently working to obtain a court order allowing him to pick up the dogs, which could potentially be euthanized. But in the meantime, the issue remains unaddressed.
“It’s a civil issue,” Brown said. “It’s not a criminal matter, and he has the right to sue the owner of the dogs to recoup his loss, but we don’t have an owner.”
While he deals with dogs attacking livestock from time to time, Brown said this particular situation is a bit more unusual.
“Now this one’s rare because they kill grown cattle, and that doesn’t happen a lot,” he said. “Most times, they’ll kill smaller cattle or calves, things like that. But to kill grown cows is pretty rare.”
Columbus-Lowndes Humane Society Director Kim Hays said she received a call from Columbus Animal Control over the weekend after someone reported dogs roaming near their property. Lowndes County contracts the Humane Society for animal enforcement, but Hays said there currently isn’t a designated officer in the position.
When the call was passed on to the Humane Society, Hays responded and picked up two dogs from the area.
“(The caller) didn’t believe they were even part of what was going on, but he said that he’s had a lot of angry farmers with fire in their eyes coming to see him and kind of point fingers because they have all the stray dogs in that area,” she said.
The two dogs picked up as a result of the call, Hays said, haven’t shown any sign of an aggressive demeanor, either with humans or other animals at the shelter.
“As far as I can tell, they’re 100% adoptable,” she said. “They’re great looking dogs, and they’re super sweet.”
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.
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