Dogs euthanized 'to make space' as Montgomery area shelters are overwhelmed by increasing animal cruelty cases

A rise in cases of animal neglect, strays and skyrocketing care costs are pushing Montgomery Humane Society past the breaking point, and its executive director says the local organization will be out of money and unable to take in new animals by April.

“Please understand, this isn’t the warm fuzzies. These are the things we have to do,” MHS Executive Director Steven Tears said. “When a dog comes in, we have to vaccinate it. If it’s sick, we have to treat it. If it’s hit by a car, it has to go to the vet. We don’t have the authority to destroy animals just because they cost a lot."

The biggest issue in Montgomery is the sheer number of animals coming through the doors, including vicious dogs, combined with a skyrocketing cost of medicines. For instance, one medicine that he said is given to 90% of animals in the shelter has gone up in price by more than 1000% over the past year. And then there’s just no place to put them. The shelter's total intake rose from about 6,000 to about 8,000 animals in the past year.

“We euthanized 65 dogs today, just to make space,” he said. “… Even if we’ve put $500 or $600 (into their care), there’s just no place to take them, no national organization. They’re all full. Nobody has an answer on where to take them."

Animal cruelty cases are also taking a toll. When a dog becomes part of a pending court case, whether that involves allegations of abuse or a vicious dog, the organization is under contract with the county and city to treat it and then hold it. The animal is evidence.

Those cases are “significantly higher, and they’ve continued to increase,” Tears said. Caring for these animals requires money and space, and restrictions on their care raise ethical concerns. In one case, Tears said, two dogs have been on hold for 482 days.

“These dogs can’t be walked, housed, touched, brushed, bathed,” he said. “… So, they’ve essentially been in a cage for 482 days.” He said the city would be owed $20,000 in restitution in that case alone, though restitution is rarely paid.

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City Attorney Stacy Bellinger said municipal court has to serve the owner before the court can hear a case or order restitution. But owners sometimes are able to avoid being served for years.

“We’re in a bad situation where we can’t do anything with the dogs, and the bills just keep piling up,” Bellinger said. “Once they do get them served, and if they do order them to pay restitution, they just aren’t going to pay it. They don’t want the dogs back.”

Tears estimated that MHS gets about $400 in total restitution annually.

MHS was facing a $650,000 shortfall for the current budget year. The county agreed to pay part of those costs, said Tears, who asked the city to raise its fiscal year 2023 MHS allocation from $1 million to at least $1.35 million to cover the rest.

The city approved its budget last month. Tears said he spoke to multiple councilors and city officials before that budget passed and was assured the situation would be handled before the vote. The city did approve a $62,000 mid-year increase in funding for MHS to implement new ordinances involving microchipping and licensing to breed, but Tears said that was unrelated. “I think there was some confusion as far as how the budget works,” he told the Montgomery City Council last week.

Other shelters are also seeing similar issues.

In the past two years, both the Prattville Police Department and the Autauga County Sheriff’s Office have built dog fighting cases. The seized dogs, in some cases numbering more than a dozen, were turned over to the shelter.

“It’s a huge problem. The last group was here 66 days,” said Claudia Rigsby, manager of the Prattville Autauga Humane Shelter. “We had to provide medical care, and there is no reimbursement. And we couldn’t take in other animals because we didn’t have the available space.

"We are here to take care of animals, and that’s what we will continue to do. But if we are holding a large group of animals for the courts, or an investigation, it can be very expensive.”

Animals are considered property, so the courts have to make a ruling before a dog or cat can be adopted or released. State law allows for an emergency civil hearing and a transfer of ownership in some cases, but that request must be filed within 20 days of the animals being quarantined. In many areas of Alabama, law enforcement officers are not trained on that provision, and many prosecutors don't use it, said Mindy Gilbert, state director of the Humane Society of the United States.

"Shelters are not meant to be a long-term destination," Gilbert said.

Three dogs in the Elmore County Humane Shelter right now have been held as part of an animal cruelty case for nearly a year, shelter manager Rea Cord said. “I added it up, and it costs me about $15,000 for those three dogs," she said. "Am I ever going to see any of that money? Hell no.

“It takes so long for these cases to work their way through the court system. You just have to wonder how many bites at the apple these people are going to have. They know how to delay, delay, delay. Just kick the can down the road.”

She says enforcement of animal cruelty laws is a bit of a two-edged sword.

“I cringe when I hear they’ve made a dog-fighting case,” she said. “I want it to be prosecuted if it’s happening in my county. But if they bring in 22 dogs, where am I going to put them? My back building has 22 kennels. A large cruelty case can just about destroy a shelter.”

Meanwhile, adoptions are down in a tougher economy. Shelters can't move animals to other spots in the region because most are nonprofits that rely on donations for more space and resources, and giving is also down. "Most shelters are operating at or above their capacity for a number of reasons," Gilbert said. And they're seeing signs of declining care by owners, like skin problems and ear infections.

Unlike some years when MHS officials "just kind of buckled down," Tears said the shelter now has few options.

“If you’ve ever euthanized, it’s not cheap either. The drugs are not cheap, the technicians aren’t cheap. If the vet comes in, it’s $400 an hour. Honestly, it’s overwhelming.”

Montgomery City Council members said they plan to form a committee to discuss their options.

Brad Harper covers business and local government for the Montgomery Advertiser. Contact him at bharper1@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Montgomery area shelters pushed to brink by animal cruelty cases