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Animal control director warns of overcrowding; commission adds policy language, affirms Alabama code for euthanasia
Summary
Animal Control Director Christina told commissioners the shelter is overcrowded, with roughly 60 dogs and 25 kennel runs, and said rescues could not accept animals; commissioners added an employee-acknowledgement sentence to the shelter SOP and voted to state explicitly that euthanasia follows Alabama code.
Christina, Chilton County’s animal control director, told commissioners the shelter is operating under heavy overcrowding and that county staff have reached out to more than 50 rescues without success.
“Currently, we have a 60 dogs, and, we're causing more harm to them than we are caring for them because we're packing them in there, like sardines,” Christina said, describing kennel conditions and staff time required for care. She said feeding roughly 60 dogs costs about $150 every two days.
Commissioner Childress moved to insert one sentence into the shelter standard operating procedures (SOP) to clarify that the SOPs supplement, not supersede, the county personnel policy. Childress read the sentence into the record: “Additionally, these standard operating procedures are meant to supplement the Chilton County personnel policy as found in your employee handbook and do not supersede any of those policies found therein.” Commissioner Bohm seconded the motion; the commission approved it unanimously.
Commissioner Hall later moved that the SOPs explicitly state the county follows Alabama code “as it pertains to veterinary and euthanization.” Commissioner Childress seconded that motion; the commission approved it unanimously.
Christina told the board she had invited national organizations — including Best Friends and the ASPCA — to assess capacity; she said those organizations declined assistance because local need exceeds available capacity regionally. She described daily kennel labor demands and said staff sometimes skip lunch to complete cleaning and care. The commission discussed staffing increases and earlier items in the consent agenda that address animal control policy adoption.
The board did not adopt a numerical limit in the meeting; commissioners instead approved clarifying language in the SOP and an explicit statement that euthanasia practices align with the appropriate Alabama code referenced to staff and legal counsel for insertion. Christina said monthly shelter statistics are posted on the commission website’s documents page and that staff will add a link to regular reports there.
The commission approved both SOP changes by voice vote.
