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Marlin City Council considers including hooved animals in an ordinance following horse incident

The city council said they will look over the current ordinance in the coming weeks and decide what changes should be made.
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MARLIN, Texas (KXXV) — “When are you going to stop playing childish games and take the safety and lives of people and animals seriously,” said animal advocate Dorothy Sanders durings Tuesday’s city council meeting.

Earlier this week, I told you about an incident involving a horse and a pack of dogs within the city of Marlin.

People in the community became concerned after a photo of a severely injured horse gained a lot of attention on Facebook.

It is believed that the horse was mauled by a pack of dogs roaming unsupervised throughout the community.

Following that incident, the city council discussed an ordinance to address hooved animals in our community.

I attended Tuesday’s city council meeting to hear what city leaders had to say had to say.

“This is to open up a discussion on what to do with hooved animals and to see if we need some sort of restrictions on letting reptiles loose in our environment,” Mayor Susan Byrd said.

“I suggest we bring it back and we bring it back with copies of the ordinance because we don’t have copies here,” Mayor Pro-Tem Debra McDavid said.

The city made the decision to revisit the ordinance because they were not provided with copies of the current one.

The council also mentioned that prior to 2022 the animal ordinance excluded hooved animals.

Some people were frustrated with the city’s response and shared their thoughts during public comments.

“You continue with no action to address the neglected animal control issues in your city even when citizens are pinned in their house by aggressive dogs or mauled livestock,” Sanders said.

It was later reported that the horse was returned to its owner by the Marlin Police Department and the owners of the dogs were given a citation for loose dogs at large.

I spoke to the Marlin Police Department who confirmed that the horse is now deceased and the incident is now under investigation.