Lance Martin/Herald Senior Staff Writer

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JACKSON - Although it has been confirmed none of the animals found in a Hertford County garbage bin last month were from the Northampton County shelter, the county's health director said the temporary ban on an animal rights group continues.

Sue Gay said the county's board of health will meet July 14. It will be her recommendation to the board that the county continue the ban on People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals until the cases against two of its workers are settled in court. The workers are scheduled to appear in Hertford County court on July 19.

Gay said she is working toward getting one additional staff member for the county's animal control department so the county can more efficiently take care of problems with stray animals.

On June 15, Ahoskie police filed 31 felony counts of animal cruelty and eight counts of illegal disposal of dead animals against PETA staffers Andrew Benjamin Cook, 24, of Virginia Beach, Va., and Adria Joy Hinkle, 27, of Norfolk, Va.

The charges were filed after investigators staked out the bin when it was discovered that dead animals had been dumped there every Wednesday for the past four weeks.

Police found 18 dead animals in the trash bin and 13 more in a van registered to PETA. The animals were from a shelter in Bertie County, police said. The PETA employees were picking up animals to be brought back to its Norfolk headquarters for euthanization.

PETA euthanizes animals by lethal injection, which it considers more humane than gassing groups of animals.