SYLACAUGA, Ala. (WBRC) – The Sylacauga Police Department will no longer handle non-vicious stray dogs. That job now belongs to the Sylacauga Animal Shelter.
Sylacauga Animal Shelter officials want residents to know if you can’t properly care for an animal, then you might not need one.
“People shouldn’t be scared to call the police if it’s a vicious dog because they’ll get out there probably faster than us but we’ll still be out there with them,” said Animal Control Officer Douglas Nixon.
The Sylacauga Animal Shelter will now be in charge of picking up stray animals around town. A job once held by the Sylacauga Police Department, Animal Control Officer Douglas Nixon says it made sense because the animals were being brought to them.
“It also alleviates some police force so they’re not having to go out on a call for a dog in the yard when they could be going out for a call that’s actually going to be more helpful to the public,” said Nixon.
Officials with the Sylacauga Animal Shelter says locating the dog owners to hold them accountable is one of the hardest parts of the job.
“The big problem has been that we have officers that could not issue citations because there was no proof of ownership. A dog could be lying on somebody’s porch, it could roam the same neighborhood, but then police could not prove that the dog actually belong to that person,” said Sylacauga Animal Control Manager Stephanie Engle.
With owners not microchipping their animals and taking responsibility for the huge population of stray animals in Sylacauga, Shelter Manager Stephanie Engle says it’s time to change the law.
“So what we’re trying to do in the next few months is move to a chipping law, mandatory chipping law. It’s really interesting just to see how that change dynamics of the problem, so I think if we had that here that would solve a lot of problems,” said Engle.
Engle went on to say when you spay and neuter your animals, that’s how you control the unwanted population of stray animals.
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