Animal Control

Mesa County Sheriff's Office Deputies and Animal Control Officers cover over 3300 square miles. This includes all unincorporated Mesa County, where the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office provides law enforcement services.  

To report any animal issues, contact non-emergency dispatch at 970-242-6707 or 911 for an emergency.  The Mesa County Sheriff's Office responds to animal enforcement issues 24 hours a day.

The Mesa County Sheriff’s Office will respond to and investigate:

• Abandoned animals
• Aggressive or dangerous dogs 
• Animal bites - domestic or wild
  • Any potential rabies exposure to a human or domestic pet.
  • Contact dispatch immediately if a person or domestic animal has had contact with a bat, skunk, raccoon, fox, or other wild carnivore.
• Barking - nuisance barking 
• Cruelty, abuse, or improper care or treatment of animals.
• Dogs at large. 
• Injured, sick, or deceased pet animals.

County Resolution Adopting Animal Services Resolution 2024.pdf

All dogs must be kept under restraint.  Owners must keep dogs under control and must have a special permit for dangerous dogs.

Dangerous Dog Permit

A dog that is determined by a court to be a dangerous dog can be permitted in Mesa County. Please contact Animal Services at 970-242-4646 to request a permit.

Animal bites are a serious public health problem. Animal bites can result in psychological trauma, transmission of diseases including rabies, localized infection of the bite wound, permanent physical scarring or disfigurement, and sometimes death.

If an animal bite occurs to a human, no matter how minor, it must be reported immediately, with the following exceptions:

• Rodent, rabbit, hare bites, bird bites, and reptile bites pose a risk for rabies. Human bites involving other domestic or wild mammals are evaluated case-by-case.
• A separate policy exists for vaccination issues and the management of bites involving wolf/dog hybrids.

Protect your animals and yourself by obtaining vaccinations from a licensed veterinarian. You are required to provide a record of vaccinations in case of a bite by your animal.

Safety tips to avoid being bitten by a dog

• Never run past a dog. A dog's instinct is to chase.
• Do not approach a strange dog.
• Let it see and sniff you before you reach out to pet a dog.
• Keep your dog confined. Chaining your dog is not recommended.
• Spay or neuter your pet. Unaltered pets are more likely to bite.
• Obedience train your dog. Obedience training will make a happy dog and a happy owner.
• Scold your dog when it is aggressive. Tell it in no uncertain terms "NO".

Rabies

• Rabies is caused by a virus that attacks the nervous system and is passed by scratches or bites from an infected animal. If untreated, rabies is fatal.
• The disease occurs most often in small, wild animals such as skunks, bats, foxes, and raccoons. Do not feed or try to handle wild animals!
• Rabies can be prevented through pet vaccinations. Rabies vaccinations are required at four months of age, and boosters must be given when due.

If your dog or cat bites someone, report it immediately

• Animals that bite someone are observed for ten days to determine if they carry rabies.
• If you or your pet have contact with a skunk, raccoon, bat, or fox that could have resulted in exposure, report it immediately. 

While there have been no human rabies cases in Colorado since 1931, bats from Mesa County have tested positive for Rabies. 

What is Nuisance Barking?

Each owner or keeper of a pet animal in the county shall not permit such pet animal to disturb the peace and quiet of any person by barking, whining, howling, yowling, or making any other noise in an excessive, ongoing, or untimely fashion.

Dealing with Nuisance Barking

The Mesa County Sheriff’s Office wants to assist if there is unprovoked nuisance barking in the community that negatively impacts a citizen’s or neighborhood’s quality of life.

Many pet owners are not aware (because they are gone or have grown accustomed to the noise) that their dogs are causing an inconvenience for others. Once aware, they may voluntarily correct the problem.

• We ask that neighbors consider talking to the pet owner and come to an amicable solution before involving law enforcement.
• If you are uncomfortable contacting your neighbor or cannot resolve the issue, please call dispatch at 970-242-6707 to report the nuisance.
• We will first attempt to contact the dog's owner to advise them of the reported problem and provide guidance on correcting it. If the problem persists, warnings and/or citations may be issued.

Helpful information

The Dumb Friends League has a few helpful documents that address barking behavior with your dog and how to resolve it.

Mesa County has many beautiful parks and riverfront trails where dogs are allowed.

• This is a privilege, not a right.
• Loose dogs in a park or on the trail can create a public hazard and often endanger residents and their pets.
• Dogs are required to be on a leash and under the control of their owner or keeper.

While cats are not generally a public safety or health issue, Mesa County realizes that unconfined cats can be a nuisance. Therefore, we have looked beyond enforcement solutions available within our community to assist residents struggling with neighborhood felines. 

• Spay/Neuter: Mesa County encourages the sterilization of cats as an important component of responsible pet ownership.
  • A strong spay/neuter program can reduce the number of displaced pets in the future, thus ultimately saving pet’s lives and taxpayer dollars.
  • Project PUPs were developed to encourage and support addressing pet overpopulation. This voucher program subsidizes the cost of the procedure to encourage pet owners to sterilize their pets.
• Displaced cats: Mesa County refers owners needing to find new cat homes to our adoption partners.
• For humanitarian reasons, we will pick up cats when they are sick, injured, cannot fend for themselves, or the owner is unknown.
• Civil Court: A citizen can file a civil case against cat owners who have cats that have damaged their property by contacting Mesa County Courts at 970-257-3640 for information about this process.
• Code Enforcement: Mesa County does have restrictions on the number of pets allowed at a residence.
  • If pet owners exceed the number of pets allowed, you can file a complaint with the code enforcement division by calling Mesa County Code Compliance at 970-244-1631.
• Any property owner or resident of a property who determines a cat living on their property is feral and should be removed should contact a private nuisance removal company for this service.