A Mount Pleasant home kept two dogs, six cats, two rabbits and two guinea pigs before police became involved, and now the town is rewriting the ordinance that governs how such cases get handled. Officers eventually obtained a court order to seize all 12 animals, and the case has pushed town leaders to take a hard look at whether their current rules let problems like this go on too long before anyone can act.
According to a police report detailed by ABC News 4, officers did not initially remove the animals from the home because a pet sitter agreed to continue caring for them while the owner, Audra McCall, remained out of town. ABC News 4 reported that police eventually charged McCall with 12 counts of animal ill-treatment, while the Post and Courier described the same charges as 12 counts of animal neglect. As One Green Planet reported, investigators described the animals as living surrounded by urine and feces.
Committee Agrees Changes Are Needed
The town's Police, Judicial and Legal Committee took up the ordinance question on Aug. 3, and the four-person panel agreed that some changes were necessary, per the Post and Courier's reporting. Mayor Will Haynie, who chairs the committee, framed the goal in terms of prevention rather than punishment: the review aims to give law enforcement the tools they need to intervene and prevent systematic neglect or cruelty, Haynie said.
The draft ordinance has already gone before the committee, and the town is now gathering public feedback while it continues to be written. Officials expect a final version to come up for adoption months from now, not immediately.
What the Draft Would Actually Change
The proposed revisions would set more detailed standards for shelter, veterinary care, food, water and living conditions, according to a report from Count on 2. Among the changes under discussion are restrictions on leaving dogs unattended during extreme weather and new standards for tethering, the outlet reported. The draft would also expand the authority of animal-control officers investigating cruelty complaints and set specific standards for commercial pet breeders operating in town, including licensing and annual inspections.
The current ordinance already includes prohibitions on cruelty and neglect, responsible-ownership requirements, and nuisance-complaint procedures. But the proposed changes would add language addressing hoarding, a term the existing code does not clearly define, along with an escalation process for handling multiple complaints tied to a single property, an idea the Post and Courier noted animal welfare advocates have pushed for.
Budget and Staffing Questions Loom
Any new rules will also cost money to enforce. Haynie said next year's budget may need to account for hiring more animal-control officers, according to a report from Live 5 News. That same report noted that South Carolina ranks 40th nationally for animal-protection laws, citing the Animal Legal Defense Fund, a ranking the town's proposed changes are partly meant to address at the local level.
The town says it is working with the South Carolina Animal Welfare Alliance on the rewrite. The group's Sandra Connell told ABC News 4, “I've noticed it just getting worse and worse,” describing her own sense that cruelty cases have escalated, though the station's report frames that as her personal assessment rather than a documented statewide trend. One Green Planet reported that Connell hopes Mount Pleasant can identify why recurring neglect happens in the first place and become a model for other municipalities.
The Limits of a Town Ordinance
There's a ceiling on what any local ordinance can do. Much of animal-cruelty enforcement is still governed by South Carolina state law, and a municipal ordinance cannot change what constitutes a crime in the state or alter the sentence that follows a conviction, per One Green Planet's reporting. What a local ordinance can do is set care standards, require breeder licensing, and give officers clearer grounds to act earlier, before a situation reaches the scale seen at the McCall home.
Mount Pleasant's posted municipal code currently lists several animal-related sections, including § 90.20 on animal care and mistreatment, § 90.21 on abandoning and keeping animals, and § 90.87 covering search-warrant and seizure procedures, according to the town's Code of Ordinances. The code library itself cautions that its posted documents may not reflect the most current legislation adopted by the municipality, underscoring that the rewrite now underway has not yet been finalized.
