Mary Pettit told the Mobile City Council on Dec. 2 that she was awakened Nov. 23 by dogs attacking her cat, Vincent, in her backyard and that the episode has left her and her 86‑year‑old mother traumatized. "I witnessed the murder of our beloved cat Vincent in our own backyard," Pettit said, adding that she had launched an online petition that had gathered more than 125 signatures and that the animals involved had been known to animal control.

Pettit urged the council to impose harsher penalties on irresponsible dog owners and to improve coordination between police and animal-control officers. "There must be harsher penalties for irresponsible dog owners. Slaps on the wrist aren't making them change anything," she said.

In response, a city administration staff member said legal staff are redrafting portions of the city's animal-control ordinances, including penalties and provisions in the vicious‑dog ordinance that were prompted by the incident described in Pettit's neighborhood. "We definitely are currently looking at, improvements to the ordinances and hopefully we'll be able to bring that to you in the next couple of weeks," the staff member said.

The exchange in the public‑comment period did not include a formal council vote; the administration's comments indicate the city plans to return to the council with proposed ordinance language and potential penalty changes for future consideration. The council did not set a formal deadline in this meeting for any specific ordinance revision.