There could be a new Office of Animal Welfare in Delaware.
It would be housed within the Division of Public Health and given the authority to inspect conditions in animal shelters, kennels and pet stores.
The Animal Welfare Taskforce, headed by state Senator Patricia Blevins, will file a final report by the end of the month.
The Wilmington News Journal says that a draft report suggests the state will reassert some authority over dog control after passing some of it onto county governments.
The paper says the report is critical of a fragmented system in which lost dogs in Sussex and New Castle counties are the responsibility of the Kent County SPCA.
Meanwhile, in Kent County the Sessex-based Safe Haven Animal Sanctuary is in charge of lost dogs.
Under the proposed state agency, four or five workers would develop a database of lost and found dogs that all of the state’s private shelters would access.
Much of the office’s other work would include inspection of shelters run by nonprofits.
