Gadsden City Council delays action on animal ordinance

Nov 04, 2023

The Gadsden City Council on Tuesday delayed a decision on an ordinance that would require city residents to register their dogs and cats and also set up licensing requirements for commercial breeders.

However, the prevailing atmosphere remains “something must be done” about the city’s stray animal problem, which has seen Animal Control personnel picking up as many as 150 dogs and 50 cats a month, and the chairman of the council's Public Safety Committee stressed that fear of making a wrong move shouldn’t impede that goal.

Council member Dixie Minatra asked that the measure be tabled, citing “notices made by different residents” and an opportunity to “cast a wider net” on the issue and potentially come back with other regulations. Her motion passed without objection.

The ordinance presented by Mayor Craig Ford’s administration had been discussed in precouncil sessions and was approved by the Public Safety Committee on Aug. 8, and would’ve taken effect on Oct. 1 if passed. It would:

• Require dog and cat owners within the city limits to register their animals and purchase city licenses at a nominal annual or lifetime fee (which would be waived for those with low incomes or some on fixed incomes);

• Provide for fines for owners of unlicensed animals that were picked up running loose;

• Require anyone breeding dogs or cats for sale within the city limits to obtain a commercial breeders’ permit to exempt them from the city’s spay/neuter requirement (which was passed last month and covers animals aged six months or older);

• Proceeds would be split between Animal Control and a spay/neuter program to be set up in conjunction with the Humane Society Pet Rescue and Adoption Center.

Councilman Jason Wilson, who chairs the Public Safety Committee, noted that the ordinance had been reviewed there, adding, “Obviously this is an issue that has the potential to be very polarizing in the sense that people are very passionate about animals on both sides.

“... I’m totally fine with us taking our time, an additional three weeks, to look over this and ... ‘cast a broader net,’ ” Wilson said. “But I want to make it clear, the one thing I’m probably most frustrated with as an elected official over the last five years is municipalities, not just Gadsden, have a tendency to be so afraid of failure that we’ll continue to do something the wrong way, or not do anything at all, out of fear of failing at trying something new. And that’s what I don’t want to see happen here.”

Wilson said he doesn’t want to see the city “continue to kick this can down the road because we didn’t get it perfect.” He stressed there’s no magic bullet for dealing with the problem, that it would take “dozens of different programs and approaches,” but that action is needed.

“We have to move on this because it’s a real issue,” he said, noting that while it’s not as pressing an issue in some parts of the city, it’s critical in others.

“I have pictures on my telephone right now of a child in District 5 who was mauled by a stray animal ... their face, their hands are all scratched up and cut up,” Wilson said, adding that Tena King, the city’s director of public services who supervises public safety, had indicated she’d received 250 calls in a month with complaints about stray animals.

“People being trapped in their house,” he said, “elderly people who can’t get out their door because there’s a pack of dogs standing outside their door barking and won’t let them out. I’m all for getting this right, I’m all about our due diligence, but we have to act at some point.”

He indicated nothing is “chiseled in marble,” and that changes or additions could be made if what’s passed isn’t working.

“I look forward to seeing some expanded ideas and concepts to be presented in Public Safety, but I just ask my colleagues after this three-week delay, whatever it is, let’s take action on it,” Wilson said. “Let’s move and let’s get it rolling and see if it works, and if it doesn’t work, we’ll fix it.”

Ford echoed that challenge, adding, “If y’all don’t come back with something, I don’t know if we’re throwing the towel in, but if we don’t have something in force, then there’s nothing to do but continue what we’ve been doing, which is not working and is not what we want to do as a public as far as euthanizing animals.”

The mayor said the goal was to see stray animals adopted, but Humane Society Director John Crane, who spoke in favor of the ordinance, said people need to understand what the facility (which houses stray animals the city picks up) is getting in.

“We have adorable dogs and cats who are highly adoptable,” Crane said. “But we have some animals who we just slide the food tray under the door to feed them.”

Crane, the city’s former police chief, noted that the registration ordinance would require owners to describe their animals (which city officials have said could help in locating those owners should they get away), and said it’s a question of accountability: “Who’s got what, what you’re doing with it and being held accountable,” Crane said.