VILLAGE OF LAKEWOOD CLUB — Village trustees are forcing a resident who owns six dogs — more than the three animals per-home allowed under its ordinance — to get rid of three of her pets.

Saying they don't want to deviate from the village ordinance, the trustees decided against pursuing a compromise that would allow Christina LaMay, 6475 Central, to keep all six dogs under the condition that she not replace any when her three oldest dogs die. Trustees gave her 90 days to get rid of the animals.

“Do we like people having to get rid of their beloved pets,” village President Russell Lichner asked. “No. But we have a responsibility to the community.”

The decision left LaMay, 58, fuming. She said she would consult with her attorney and find out whether there's a way to keep her pets. She's owned all six since 2007.

“They're our babies,” she said. “You raise them, you nurse them through all their sickness, just like kids.”

Trustees said they decided against reaching a compromise because they feared it would set a harmful precedent.

“If we allowed one person to do it, we would have to allow everyone else to do it,” Lichner said, adding that asking LaMay to give up her dogs was “a real hard decision.”

The village of Lakewood Club, with a population of 1,291, is in the northwest corner of Dalton Township, southeast of Whitehall.

Village trustees said asking residents to reduce the number of animals they own is rare, but it has been done. This past summer, one resident was asked to find a different home for some of her dogs because she owned more than the village allows. Village officials couldn't immediately say how many dogs the resident owned.

LaMay criticized the trustees, asking why they were making her get rid of her pets when none of her neighbors had complained about them. She said they weren't a nuisance and didn't bother neighbors with excessive barking.

“I think they're petty,” she said of the trustees. “It's stupid.”

LaMay's dogs came to the attention of the village recently when its ordinance enforcer spotted them outside her house.

With demand for space at many animal shelters high, LaMay fears her dogs will be euthanized. She plans on giving up her three oldest dogs — Princess, 13, Ranger, 13, Goblin, 12 — all of which struggle with health problems. All three are a "shepard mix."

“We walked out (of the meeting) and my daughter asked can we keep them and now I think she's out in the parking lot crying,” LaMay said following the meeting.

While the order for LaMay to get rid of the dogs may be unpopular, the decision was made in the interest of village residents, Lichner said. A large number of dogs can be a nuisance to neighbors and create unsanitary conditions for the animals and their owner, he said.

“I really do feel three animals is enough,” he said.

Connie Karry, director of Pound Buddies Animal Shelter and Adoption Center, said most shelters are running at capacity, leaving little room for new dogs.

LaMay occasionally fosters dogs for Pound Buddies.

“The chances are very high that they will be euthanized,” Karry said. “We have limited foster homes and we have young, healthy dogs that we have no room for and are euthanized.”

Email: bmcvicar@muskegonchronicle.com

