Gadsden cracks down on animal overpopulation; new ordinance requires spaying, neutering

Gadsden is inundated — and the Humane Society Pet Rescue and Adoption Center overwhelmed — with animals, and the city has taken a significant step in combating that problem.

The City Council in a unanimous vote on Tuesday revised the city code to make it illegal, inside the city limits, to own a dog or a cat aged six months or older that hasn’t been spayed or neutered.

Violators would be subject to a $100 fine for the first offense, $250 for a second offense and $500 for a third offense.

The measure was brought up in the precouncil meeting and approved in the regular meeting after a unanimous vote to suspend the rules and allow immediate consideration.

“We are acknowledging the fact that we have an overpopulation of animals, and these animals are running the streets and they’re terrorizing our neighborhoods,” Tena King, director of city services, said during the precouncil session. “And we have to put something into place to control this population.”

It’s a work in progress and more steps are expected in what King described as a “holistic,” or interconnected approach.

The city could include requiring a breeder to obtain a business license for an exemption from the law, something council member Jason Wilson, whose stepfather raised and trained German shepherds for police work, brought up. Council President Kent Back also asked about, and King said it was on the table, adding a microchipping requirement to help Animal Control return lost pets to their owners.

“This is just a starting point for us to have some conversations and discuss where we are, where we are going and how we’re going to get there,” King said.

“I don’t think there’s an easy answer, I don’t think there’s an answer that’s going to please everyone sitting up there (council members) or everyone in this audience,” she said. “But we’re going to have to come up with some type of proposed solution, or we’re going to find ourselves in a world of hurt.”

Mayor Craig Ford said since he’s been in office, Animal Control has averaged picking up 150 dogs and 50 cats a month.

HSPRAC Director John Crane said his facility on Brooke Avenue was designed to hold 50 dogs and 40 cats; on Tuesday afternoon, it housed 148 dogs and 72 cats.

“The number increases daily due to animals being dumped or allowed to roam free,” Crane said.

Ford called it a “tough situation,” adding, “People love their animals, and we want to make sure we’re doing the right thing. But we can’t keep going to find dogs in neighborhoods in the current situation we’re in.”

He said there’s been at least one animal attack a month since he took office last November, and two were reported last month.

“We're having people viciously attacked in neighborhoods,” Ford said. “I had a lady call me from Oakleigh Estates the other day. She couldn’t get out her door to go to work because a German shepherd had her pinned up in her house. We had to send Animal Control out there, but a dog’s not going to wait around to be arrested. They’re sometimes harder to catch than criminals.”

They also can be equally cunning. “These aren’t like your fur babies at home,” Ford said. "They’re wild packs of dogs, especially in District 7 coming down from the mountain into District 3 and running wild. And once you get a wild pack of dogs, they breed and learn how to live.

“My eyes have been opened to this situation,” he said. “We’re looking for answers.”

Crane thanked Ford and the council for the move, saying the first step in addressing the problem is “controlling the (animal) population."

This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Gadsden mandates spaying, neutering of dogs and cats