Guest opinion: Fatal dog maulings, overpopulation, underfunded shelters in Alabama
As published on al.com
Wendy Montealegre stood in the pouring rain. She could see the chained-up dogs a concerned neighbor had called her about. She could also see puppies in a crate nearby. “Get off my property or I’ll call the police,” a woman yelled at her. The rain came down harder and a crate crammed with puppies started to fill with water as they scratched frantically. Music blared from the house even though it was in the middle of the day. Montealegre had no choice but to leave. According to the law, she was trespassing, and she didn’t want to be shot.
This is not an uncommon scenario for Montealegre or any one of the tireless good folks involved with county shelters and other nonprofits dedicated to helping save dogs and cats in a state with an animal population explosion, inadequate enforcement of current animal protection laws, and dire poverty. Our “don’t tread on me” mentality, lack of education and awareness about animal welfare, lack of resources, inadequate political leadership, fractures within an exhausted and overwhelmed animal advocacy community, and a powerful insurance lobby all create challenges when solving the overpopulation problem, the need for resources and education, and the introduction and enforcement of reasonable animal protection laws in Alabama.
Last week when Montealegre, a former nurse who has worked the past eight years rescuing animals for the Blount County shelter and founder of the nonprofit, Tails from Alabama, answered the phone, a distraught women informed her that she was being evicted from her home. “She’s crying and I’m crying because she doesn’t know what to do with her dog,” Montealegre says. But Montealegre posted a plea on Facebook, connected with the rescue, coordinated transportation, and followed up to see how the dog was being cared for. A somewhat happy ending in a desperate situation for both the woman and her dog, but for too long and too often, rescue warriors like Wendy, who are doing the yeoman’s work of rescuing animals in Alabama, there’s not always a simple solution.
That same week two disturbing events happened across the state, highlighting the complex and difficult issue of animal welfare here. A woman checking on a pack of stray dogs was mauled to death by the pack, and a young boy in Madison County discovered multiple dead pit bulls and dozens others chained up and malnourished on neighboring property. Montealegre says she doesn’t find the situation the boy stumbled upon unusual—dead dogs with others chained and being bred for fighting. It’s unusual that he and his mother received any media coverage.
Where Monteleagre now lives she says people rent houses for breeding farms and dogs are sold for fighting. One of the most painful parts of her job is not being able to find a home for these “bully breeds.” Tails from Alabama can only rescue so many because it’s so hard to place them.
Alabama currently has five low-cost spay and neuter clinics, compared to Georgia, which has thirty-seven, Mississippi with fourteen, and Florida with one hundred and thirty-seven. The state is fifth in the nation for the highest kill rate at shelters. Understaffed and underfunded, shelters have become so overcrowded that often they can not accept owner surrenders. The Greater Birmingham Humane Society has recently dealt with a devastating distemper outbreak. Fourteen counties in our state have no shelter or animal control, and often, one county covers several jurisdictions, which creates a significant area considered “no man’s land.”
Montealegre recalls a recent call about a dog being beaten from a county five hours away. The concerned person had called the police, but nothing was being done. Because Alabama is 45th in the nation for poverty, “Rescuing dogs always opens Pandora’s box,” Montealegre says. “It’s bigger than the issue of dogs. It’s about abject poverty. The chained dog outside in the excessive heat or freezing cold is the tip of the iceberg.” Lack of public education surrounding caring for companion animals, understanding the problems of breeding, and voting for legislators who focus on hot button issues and who protect corporation’s bottom line contribute to the problems facing animal advocates.
During the shortened 2022 legislative session, not one animal welfare bill was introduced. In 2012, Beckham’s law was passed, which eliminated gassing animals, and 2018 Emily’s law was also passed which defines the procedure for declaring a dog dangerous. In 2019, the Farmer’s Federation opposed HB305, which stated person commits the crime of cruelty to a dog or cat in the second degree if he or she deprives the animal of necessary shelter didn’t make it out of committee even though HB 305 only added a definition to a term in existing law, which already required that shelter be provided
In 2021, HB551, the tethering bill, which was first introduced in 2015 to the House of Representatives Agriculture and Forestry Committee, was filed late into session and was never calendared in committee. Since the existing has required food, shelter and water since 2000, this bill defined a humane tethering method. But our agrarian roots often create a generational pattern of viewing companion animals as livestock and many in the farming community with a historically powerful lobby known for healthy campaign contributions views these types of bills as a threat that soon crazy animal lovers will demand luxury condos for chicken coops. But throughout this process, there have been no attempts to introduce or pass protection laws that would affect agriculture in any way. The several attempts to define “shelter” in existing law that failed were all clearly drafted to apply only to dogs and cats and were reasonable and commonsense.
The good news is post pandemic pet ownership is on the rise and during the past ten years, the number of animals killed in shelters across the country annually has been reduced from 23 million to 2 million, according to Mindy Glibert, Alabama Senior State Director of the Humane Society. Alabama also has one of the third toughest dog fighting law in the country, but the problem then becomes adequate enforcement. Gilbert says the goal is to prevent animal cruelty and change future behavior of owners, but police are only trained to write up reports and some are more aware than others about animal welfare statutes.
Before she began her rescue work, Montleagre was manicured and pedicured with well-coiffed hair and matching outfits. Now she spends every moment rescuing animals. Just like her, she says there’s a brigade of seemingly frail middle-aged women knocking on doors where animals are chained, abused, over bred, left in the freezing cold or hot sun to suffer. She and others confront animal abusers and owners who are often dangerous and hostile to them. These women with families, jobs, and responsibilities, who are dealing with indifference and outright cruelty daily, are often mischaracterized by the public.
In Montealegre’s experience, as far as protecting animals, “It’s like the wild west in Alabama,”and for every dog saved, she knows all too well, hundreds more succumb to the elements, roam the streets, are hit by cars, starve, or are shot to death. The character of our communities, state and nation depend on how we care for the most vulnerable, and we in Alabama, must do a better job by funding shelters, educating the public, passing appropriate animal protection legislation, shutting down backyard breeders, and protecting all of God’s creatures. As Jesus said, “What you do unto the least of these, you do unto me.”