Stray dog shootings in Alabama shine light on county with no animal control
By Lisa Crane
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PICKENS COUNTY, Alabama (WVTM) — Alabama state law requires every county have animal control to keep roaming or aggressive dogs off the streets. But at least one county doesn’t seem to be following that law.
According to the Aliceville police chief, Pickens County has no animal control and no contract to provide those services.
The situation is coming to light after someone shot two dogs there this week. one was killed, the other injured and there was no agency tasked to deal with the problem of roaming dogs. The dog that survived is having a leg amputated now. A Carrollton woman has stepped in to help and is single handedly trying to handle animal control for all of Pickens County. She’s doing that from her home. She’s set up some makeshift kennels and is trying to keep stray animals and residents safe.
Kari Rodgers was shocked when she moved to Pickens County from Minnesota five years ago and saw stray dogs everywhere. She said, “They do have a lot stricter laws up there when it comes to animals.”
A few months ago, she started an animal rescue, Pickens Paws and Purrs, to try and help some of the strays roaming the county. It’s at her home, she has space for about 12 dogs and she filled the kennels quickly. She was devastated when someone told her two strays had been shot in Aliceville. Rodgers said, “She found Hank Jr, is what the locals call him, he was injured with the gunshot wounds to his legs. She was told by another coworker that police were there talking to one of their coworkers, and shortly after they left is when gunshots happened.”
Some believe it was a police officer who shot the dogs. The Aliceville police chief said he’s looking into it. Chief Tonnie Jones said, “I’m investigating that as well, to see exactly what happened, even if it were an officer that did the incident, so it is under investigation.”
Chief Jones told us he often gets calls about stray dogs, but with no animal control in the county, there’s not much he can do about it. Rodgers said she gets those calls daily. As an animal advocate, she’s heartbroken she can’t rescue them all. Rodgers added, “It’s a serious problem here in town that we need to address. So just getting the humane solutions for the county would be a big help.”
Rodgers is willing to work with the county to officially become the facility that impounds stray animals. We reached out to county leaders about the state mandate to provide animal control and impound services. No one returned our calls.
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