Leash law being enforced in St. Martins

Captain John Wheeler with the Cole County Sheriff’s Department said St. Martins officials came to them asking for help.

They said about 6 months ago they started seeing a need for a leash law in the area.

The leash law mirrors Russelville’s and was made official this morning, as Cole County Commissioners thought it was needed.

Captain Wheeler agreed the city needed a leash law for several reasons.

“I mean there’s vicious dogs, well not vicious, but you know. There are also dogs that will get out and dig or defecate on other people’s property and people don’t like that.”

There were only a few complaints of dogs being a threat to small children, but Wheeler said with St. Martins being a rapidly growing community, it’s something they see fit to change so it doesn’t become a problem.

St. Martins residents passed this ordinance about 2 months ago.

“St. Martins is doing this to try and stay ahead of this. They’re not after anybody’s animals. They’re wanting compliance with the law and they want people to keep their animals pinned up and they want people to be responsible,” said Wheeler.

Wheeler also said patrols won’t be out looking for stray dogs, as there needs to be a complaint. Currently, there are no complaints on file at the department.