A new group aimed at improving the dog laws to help the animals is asking Carbon County to compensate the county’s animal cruelty officer.

On Thursday, Margaret Rush, co-founder of For Duke: No Dog Left Behind, approached the commissioners with a request to pay the county’s sole animal cruelty officer at least a part-time wage for her services.

Donna Crum, who is Carbon’s appointed animal cruelty officer, is not employed by the county in that position, and according to the Humane Society Police Officers registry, is under the Carbon County Friends of Animals in Jim Thorpe as the nonprofit animal welfare organization requirement for the position.

“If we can make the requirements to be an animal protection officer easier, that would be great,” Rush said. “It’s a long list, and these people are doing it for free. They have to go away a week here and there, leave their jobs and then work for free, use their own gas on their own hours.”

Commissioners’ Chairman Wayne Nothstein said that at one time the county had three animal cruelty officers, but it dwindled down to just one now.

He said the position is regulated by the state, which also has a dog warden appointed for each county.

According to the Humane Societies of Pennsylvania, animal cruelty officer positions, according to Act 205 of 2004, can either be volunteer or paid positions and are part of humane societies or SPCAs.

To serve as an officer, the person must be represented by a humane society or animal welfare organization and approved by the county district attorney and courts.

Officers must complete the required trainings and courses and can only enforce the law as it is written by the state.

“That means leaving behind the dog tied to a doghouse, as long as the doghouse is sound and sturdy, or the cat that has kittens every time it comes in heat. The job requires people skills, as well as knowledge of animals,” the Humane Societies of Pennsylvania states.

Crum has served as a Carbon County animal cruelty officer since 2009.