Roaming dogs blamed for killing two geese, injuring other rescues

  • Julie Wootten’s rescue duck “Belle” has found a sanctuary at Wootten’s rescue Waddle On Inn, however, roaming dogs have caused an issue for Wootten and her rescues. Belle, two geese and a gosling were attacked by a roaming dog last week, and Wootten had difficulty getting help from Fannin County Animal Control.
    Julie Wootten’s rescue duck “Belle” has found a sanctuary at Wootten’s rescue Waddle On Inn, however, roaming dogs have caused an issue for Wootten and her rescues. Belle, two geese and a gosling were attacked by a roaming dog last week, and Wootten had difficulty getting help from Fannin County Animal Control.

    A roaming dog has yet again caused issues for Julie Wootten and her geese and other rescue animals at Waddle On Inn in Fannin County.

    Last year, Wootten addressed the issue at a Board of Commissioners meeting and explained that she had seen 23 roaming dogs on her property over the two and half years she’d lived there. One of the dogs even attacked one of her critically endangered geese resulting in $4,000 in vet care.

    At the time, she had a difficult time getting Fannin County Animal Control to help her with the roaming dog problem.

    Last week, a roaming dog made its way onto her property again, which resulted in the death of two geese, life-threatening injuries to a young gosling and minor injuries to her beloved rescue duck, Belle.

    The thought of losing one of her geese is terrifying to Wootten, as they are one of a handful left in the world. She currently has 15 of only 17 Castleberry Line geese.

    While the dog has been on the property before, and Wootten has called Animal Control several times regarding the issue, she said they had not come out to investigate her calls.

    Following the most recent attack, Wootten called Animal Control and was unable to reach an officer during their regular business hours. While she left messages, her call was not returned.

    That night, she addressed the issue with Board of Commissioners Chairman Jamie Hensley who immediately arranged for Animal Control Manager John Drullinger to call her the following morning.

    “I appreciate Jamie Hensley reaching out on this and starting immediate investigation on why Animal Control did not even return my calls,” Wootten said.

    Following Drullinger’s call with Wootten, more dogs returned to Wootten’s home, and she called Animal Control to alert them to the issue. At that time, they were unable to find the dogs after they left her home.

    According to Drullinger, details of the case cannot be discussed because the investigation is ongoing, however, he said they were having a difficult time finding a dog in her neighborhood.

    Wootten’s gosling had to undergo emergency surgery following the attack and was still critical late last week. Her rescue duck Belle is “slowly healing, active and eating.”