SOUTH BEND — The county’s animal control ordinance is working, despite complaints from a small number of veterinarians, according to Carol Ecker, a veterinarian and head of the Humane Society of St. Joseph County.

She addressed an informal meeting of the County Council on Tuesday night to respond to criticisms of the ordinance that were presented to the council a month ago.

In March, Granger veterinarians Donn Kryder and Jeffery Vogl asked the council to reconsider parts of the year-old ordinance. They objected in particular to a requirement that veterinarians share vaccination records with the Humane Society.

Pet licenses are tied to the rabies vaccination, Ecker said. The licenses are used not only to help identify an animal but also to enforce the vaccination requirement, she said.

And they are not expensive. A dog or cat that receives a three-year vaccination can get a three-year license for only $10, Ecker said . A one-year license costs $5.

She said 6,792 dogs and cats were licensed in the county last year, including 728 in Mishawaka. (South Bend is covered by a city ordinance and is not included in the county ordinance.)

So far this year, she said, 1,679 pets have been licensed, including 365 in Mishawaka.

The ordinance has helped the Humane Society take action against three dogs that were deemed to be dangerous, one nuisance animal and 19 pit bulls that were protecting a marijuana cache in the county, Ecker said.

It has raised $14,585 in licensing fees for the county, she said.

She gave the council members copies of her records that showed the level of compliance by various veterinarians in the county. Some are completely compliant, she said, while others seemed to be largely ignoring the ordinance.

A veterinarian in Walkerton, she said, has been sending in 60 to 70 pet licenses a month, while one in Granger is sending in only a handful.

"It’s attitude, from the top down,’’ Ecker said.

Pet owners will do the right thing when approached correctly by a veterinarian, she said.

The Humane Society is trying to work with pet owners to keep animals in their homes. The ordinance limits the number of pets a household can have, Ecker said, but those with large numbers of dogs or cats can get a kennel license.

As an example of how the ordinance is working, Ecker mentioned a woman on a farm in the eastern part of the county who has more than 80 cats. Ecker said the Humane Society is working with the woman to round up the cats and take them to a veterinarian to be spayed/neutered and vaccinated. They are doing a few at a time, as the owner can afford, Ecker said. The idea is to stop the cats from reproducing and perhaps keep them from contracting or spreading rabies.

"We’re not being belligerent with people,’’ she said.

The ordinance needs to be tweaked a little, Ecker admitted, but she urged the council not to do anything with it for the time being. She suggested waiting another year or two in order to identify all of the issues with it, then taking it up again for rewriting or amending.

"It’s expensive to change ordinances,’’ she said, and it would make more sense to wait until all of the problems are discovered and can be fixed at the same time.

Council member Rafael Morton said he is perplexed by the arguments for and against the ordinance. Kryder gave a convincing argument in March when he addressed the council, Morton said, and Ecker’s arguments are equally convincing.

He suggested getting both sides of the controversy together with the council members to hash out their differences. The council agreed to try to do that.

Meanwhile, Ecker urged the council to take steps to appoint the Animal Control Commission called for in the ordinance. The commission is to be composed of three members and an alternate. Among other things, it would hear complaints about ordinance violations.