Don’t expect an Animal Control officer to respond to your phone call this weekend — or any other weekend — unless you’ve been bitten or have bats in your house.

Possum on the pavement? Leave a message or call Monday. Fido fled? Check back on Monday. Stray in the yard? Same.

“Starting this weekend, due to City Council budget cuts, we will no longer be responding to the community when they call regarding animal control issues,” said Bruce Dart, director of the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department.

Animal Control, a division of the department, averages 82 calls per weekend, he said.

Midnight Wednesday marked the end of the city’s fiscal year, and the health department shrank by four jobs, half in Animal Control. Budget cuts also took one Animal Control officer last year, Dart said.

Weekend hours officially begin at 7 a.m. Saturday and last until 7 a.m. Monday. During those hours, anyone calling 441-7900 will get an automated message.

Calls on bites and bats will be forwarded to 911 emergency dispatch, which will alert an infectious disease or Animal Control officer.

“This is not a good situation,” said Dart, “but we no longer have the staff to respond.”

People who find stray animals can take them on their own to the Capitol City Humane Society, but Dart didn’t recommend it.

Animal Control officers are trained to approach unfamiliar and potentially dangerous animals, he said. In the past, those officers could go out to chase down a dog before it became dangerous.

Now, Dart said, “We’ll come out for a bite.”

The health department will adjust its new policy as warranted.

“We really have no idea how it’s going to affect the community,” he said. The public’s expectation has always been that Animal Control will respond, he said.

Now, they won’t.

“That’s so frustrating to us.”

Reach Mark Andersen at 473-7238 or mandersen@journalstar.com.