https://www.al.com/news/mobile/2021/07/people-are-just-fed-up-residents-voice-concerns-about-dog-abuse-mobile-animal-control-services.html

Facebook ShareTwitter ShareBy John Sharp | jsharp@al.com

Deborah Cooper tried to save the life of Pebbles, an active white and black pit bull that was tied up to two trees in the backyard of her neighbor’s house.

But one day last month, Peebles was found dead from strangulation after hanging herself from the leash. The dog was found one day after Cooper claims that Animal Control officers were called to the Murrwood Court home where Peebles was chained, and to a house with a history of abused dogs.https://1329d0b5cae47692e7fdd6b6029762b6.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html

“It should have never happened,” said Cooper, a resident along Murrwood near Hank Aaron Stadium in Mobile for the past 34 years. “If Animal Control had taken the dog, she would still be alive.”

Cooper and others are expected to present their concerns about a lack of Animal Control services in Mobile during Tuesday’s City Council meeting. According to resident Terri Mitchell, the Animal Control office’s budget is hidden, or the office is shut down and that “dogs are starving on the ends of chains all over Mobile.”

“People are just fed up,” said Mitchell.

But the city’s explanation is that the agency’s budget has not been cut, nor are there any plans to do so.

The problem, the city says, has to do with what afflicts local governments nationwide: A labor shortage and an inability to hire people to do jobs that are sometimes viewed as undesirable.https://1329d0b5cae47692e7fdd6b6029762b6.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html

“It’s one of those thankless jobs people don’t appreciate,” said Lawrence Battiste, the city of Mobile’s public safety director. “Animal control officers spend a good amount of time making sure they are maintaining kennels and cleaning the urine and poop up from dogs and cats. We are having challenges in finding people to fill those positions.”

Battiste said the city’s animal control services are budgeted to have a dozen workers. He said that the agency currently has seven people employed. The city also has four kennel tech positions that can be filled, but only one person is doing the job right now.

“We have had applicants, but one failed to show up to the interview and others do not answer the phone,” Battiste said. “Then we are also down office assistance positions who are working in other parts of the city. We’ve had to replace those as well.”https://1329d0b5cae47692e7fdd6b6029762b6.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html

The short-staffed agency’s woes come at a time when other departments within the city struggle to keep up with hiring demands. Concerns about labor shortages within the Public Works Department were raised by council members last month while elected officials debated whether to contract private haulers to pick up a backlog of yard waste piles on city streets. The backlog, from the city’s perspective, was primarily the fault of a delay in getting new trucks delivered on time and added into their fleet.

Battiste said the city recently added the kennel tech jobs so that Animal Control officers would spend more time responding to the public’s calls for assistance. The kennel techs, he said, would be responsible for ensuring the city’s kennels are cleaned.https://1329d0b5cae47692e7fdd6b6029762b6.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html

He also said Animal Control officers are often placed in a “mediation” situation between two people with differing viewpoints about the health and safety of dogs and cats. He said the office will have to decide whether to write a citation against a pet owner, noting that it can be a “thankless job that often times no one ever shows a level of appreciation.”

The concerns about the service also comes a few months after the council adopted a tethering ordinance in February that makes it a crime to leash or chain an animal to a tree, dog house, post, stake or other stationary object for longer than 15 minutes unless the owner is physically present.

Mitchell said the city is not enforcing the ordinance, and Cooper said that Animal Control should seize neglected dogs and have them placed in a shelter.https://1329d0b5cae47692e7fdd6b6029762b6.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html

Battiste said that enforcement of the ordinance is meant more for educational purposes, and to gain compliance.

“We would not necessarily take someone’s pet if it’s not being neglected or abused,” Battiste said. “In those cases (where it’s being neglected or abused) we’d take it to a shelter. But being in violation of the tethering ordinance only puts us in a position to issue a citation. We’d probably issue 10 citations, and the only action is to fine the individual. We are trying to gain compliance.”

Mobile City Councilman Fred Richardson, who sponsored the ordinance and who is running for mayor in August, said he’s familiar with Cooper’s situation and blames the city’s administration for ignoring departments within the city “they don’t give much deference to.” Also running for Mobile mayor on August 24 is incumbent Mayor Sandy Stimpson and challenger Karlos Finley.https://1329d0b5cae47692e7fdd6b6029762b6.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html

Richardson said the city’s budget surplus should go toward hiring more workers to pick up yard waste and to serve as Animal Control officers.

Cooper said it’s simply too late for Pebbles, and she is hoping the city will be more proactive in handling animal abuse in Mobile.

“I took the pictures that needed to be taken,” said Cooper. She said that Animal Control asked her to document the dog’s abuse after it was found dead.

“Her little tongue was sticking out. Eyes closed. It looked like she stood on her hind legs as long as she could to keep from dying and just died because of strangulation.”