Orange County Now Providing Animal Services In Carrboro

CARRBORO – Orange County Animal Services will now be providing animal control for the Town of Carrboro, where animal control was previously handled by town police.

The change will take effect July 1. Carrboro police captain and future chief of police, Walter Horton, explains that the time seemed right to make the switch.

“We used to have an animal control officer, and we no longer have that officer,” Horton says. “It is something that we felt made sense, since they already cover Chapel Hill.”

Director of Orange County Animal Services, Bob Marotto, says that Carrboro’s previous system of enforcing animal control made it an outlier among the towns in the county.

“I think that there has been an interest in having integrated and coordinated animal services provided by our department for the whole county,” Marotto says.

In the past, Orange County Animal Services had been called to Carrboro in the event of an outstanding animal incident.

Carrboro police and Orange County Animal Services note the multiple reported coyote sightings in Orange County and near Carrboro recently. However, there are note any outstanding issues like that currently.

One incident that Marotto remembers in particular was a family of coyotes in Carrboro near Hogan Farms that had offspring.

“They had become unfearful of people,” Marotto says. “They were closer to people than people were comfortable with.”

Horton says there have even been coyote sightings in the past months.

“Out in the northern areas, up near Sunset Creek and the old 86 area, we have two or three around there,” Horton says. “They’ve been following citizens while they walk their dogs.”

Three reports of bear sightings were made this week, but Marotto says the change is unrelated to the recent sightings in Carrboro.

Orange County Now Providing Animal Services In Carrboro

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