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VIDALIA, La. — Vidalia Police Chief Joey Merrill has said he has no comment on what the operating procedures are for the Vidalia Dog Pound after Aldermen have left it up to him to decide how long a dog can stay before it is put to sleep.

However, Merrill did say no dog has had to be euthanized since his department took over operating the pound, though some of the dogs currently in the pound have been there since July 2024.

“I don’t want to comment on it because when I comment then it becomes an ordeal,” Merrill said. “We haven’t had an issue and I hope people will come and adopt. I hope it doesn’t get to the point that we’re overrun. We haven’t had to euthanize one dog.”

Other than a dog that is a danger to the public, Merrill said when it comes down to the point that the police department is not able to do its job and respond to people’s calls, dogs would have to be put to sleep.

“People are my priority,” he said.

However, Merrill said people have been supportive enough that it hasn’t reached that point, even for dogs that have been at the pound for months.

“We can donate these dogs to other facilities or adopt or whatever the case may be,” he said. “The humane society took one and people have helped and stepped up.”

Due to illness, Craft was unable to attend the meeting last month when Alderman ultimately decided to do nothing about the adoption of dog pound operating procedures that was placed on the town’s agenda.

For years, the pound had been run as an impromptu animal shelter by a town employee on a voluntary basis. When the police department assumed control of its operation so that the employee could one day retire, the public quickly interpreted that to mean that it would become a kill shelter.

Vidalia Mayor Buz Craft said he had originally put the discussion on the town’s agenda to clear the air for transparency’s sake but ultimately it is the police chief’s call on what to do.

“It shouldn’t have taken so long to come to this point,” he said. “I wish we could have kept things the way they were but for whatever reason we can’t. In light of it being a pound, or even if we keep running it as a shelter, when is the expiration date to keep a dog? Are we going to keep the dog in the pound in perpetuity until it dies of old age? Eventually, something needs to be done. Anyone who is against that should get on a list to come pick the dogs up themselves. The police department is doing everything they can to try and move these dogs. I love animals and hate to get into it, but I don’t think it’s fair to say we’re not doing what we’re supposed to do. We’re only doing what others are doing all over the state.”