Alabama Animal Advocates

Animal Services in Geneva County

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Animal services in Geneva County, Alabama: How to get help with animal concerns, impoundment facility, animal control, low-cost spay & neuter, dog confinement requirements.

Impoundment Facilities or Shelters in Geneva County

With no county impoundment facility and no county animal control, Geneva County is failing to fulfill the statutory mandate of Alabama Code § 3-7A-7 that “Each county within the state shall provide a suitable county pound and impounding officer.”

Geneva County could meet the state requirement by contracting with the City of Geneva or a nonprofit organization for sheltering, boarding impounded animals with a vet or animal hospital, or operating their own shelter, as is done in many counties throughout Alabama. The founding and operation of an impoundment facility is possible even on the limited budgets of Alabama’s rural counties. See the example at An Affordable & Effective Shelter Facility.

City of Geneva Impoundment Facility
Near the EMA facility in Geneva, Alabama
(Not open to the public)
334-684-6496
Facebook

The City of Geneva’s impoundment facility serves the city only. It is operated by the Geneva Police Department and is located near the EMA facility, but is not open to the public. The City does not share the address.

Impounded animals are not posted either, said ACO Kevin Carroll. Residents whose pet may have been impounded are asked to call ACO Carroll so that he can advise whether their pet is there, he said.

Geneva’s facility includes about 10 kennels, ACO Carroll said. The facility is primarily used for dogs. A small number of cats are also impounded, typically via trapping, Becky said, and the city works with a rescue group that accepts the cats.

Titan’s Legacy Animal Sanctuary
Hartford, Alabama
Facebook

Titan’s Legacy is a private 501c3 nonprofit rescue group and animal adoption agency. This organization is not contracted by any government and does not impound loose animals.

Animal Control in Geneva County

Animal Control in Unincorporated Areas of Geneva County: Geneva County employs no animal control officers. For assistance, contact the Geneva County Sheriff’s Office or the Geneva County Commission.

Geneva Council Considers Breed Discriminatory Legislation

Two months after 39-year-old Daniel Cade Jr. died from injuries sustained in a dog attack on a Geneva road, the City of Geneva adopted its current Dogs and Cats Ordinance. Following the March 2026 attack on Sheila Pate by a neighbor’s dogs, once again Geneva City Council members again looked to the city code. “I believe if we impose a stiff enough fine, we can stop some of it,” Geneva Mayor David Hayes said on Apr. 6.

Two weeks later, the Geneva City Council reviewed a dog ordinance drafted by City Attorney Jeff Gray. We requested the draft ordinance from the city, but declined to pay the $14 scanning fee required by the city, asking instead that the digital file be emailed. Meeting minutes reference banning dogs from city parks, limiting the number of pets, and banning pit bull-type dogs — even though breed-discrinatory legislation has been shown to be ineffective:

  • Mistaken Identity: 50% of dogs labeled as pit bulls lack DNA breed signatures of breeds commonly classified as pit bulls. The educated guesses of LEOs and ACOs have been shown to be wrong about 75% of the time.
  • No Effect on Frequency or Severity of Attacks: Targeted dogs are not more likely to bite nor do they bite harder, and bans do not result in fewer bites.
  • A Poor Use of Taxdollars: Enforcement is expensive, with no measurable impact on public safety.

How can officials actually protect public safety? By considering the factors that are associated with the vast majority of dog attack fatalities:

  • Reduce Tethering, Chaining, and Caging, since resident dogs (as opposed to family pets) are by far most often involved in fatal attacks.
  • Encourage & Improve Access to Low-Cost Sterilization, since a large percentage of dogs involved in fatalities are not spayed or neutered.
  • Enforce Dangerous Dog Laws which regulate owners based on reported incidents and the history of the dog’s and owner’s behavior.

For more on breed-discriminatory legislation, see the work of Aubrie Kavanaugh, Nathan Winograd, Paws4Change, Bronwen Dickey, and Deirdre Franklin.

The City of Geneva does require dog confinement by ordinance, however Geneva County continues to permit running at large.

Animal Control Within Corporate Limits & Police Jurisdiction:

If your ACO is unable to help or if your area has no animal services, see this guidance.

Dog Confinement Requirements in Geneva County

Dog confinement is not required in unincorporated Geneva County because the Geneva County Commission has not adopted Alabama Code § 3-1-5, which would require that dogs be confined to the owner’s premises or kept in the charge of a responsible person if off-premises. There are still steps you can take to address issues or to encourage the county to require confinement.

Dog Confinement Requirements Within Corporate Limits & Police Jurisdiction:

How to Report: See How to Report an At-Large Violation.

Dog Bites & Attacks

One woman was hospitalized and another arrested after a March 2026 dog attack in Geneva, Alabama. “I started backing up, and [the three dogs] started charging me,” Sheila Pate told Beyla Walker of WTVY on Mar. 13. The attack occurred 20 feet from Sheila Pate’s home as she departed for work, a route Pate had walked for seven years.

Geneva Police arrested Kenyatta Thompson on Apr. 12 for two misdemeanor violations of Emily’s Law [Alabama Code § 3-6A-5], according to an Apr. 13 WTVY staff report. The pertinent section of the statute states:

(d) If a dog that has not been declared by a court to be dangerous, when unjustified, attacks and causes physical injury to a person, and the owner of the dog had prior knowledge of the dangerous propensities of the dog, yet demonstrated a reckless disregard of the propensities under the circumstances, the owner of the dog shall be guilty of a Class B misdemeanor.

If the severity of the attack rises to the level of “serious physical injury or death,” Emily’s Law provides for a Class C felony charge [§ 3-6A-5(b)]. Geneva Police Chief Pepper Mock said investigators were limited to a misdemeanor charge “because the injuries did not rise to the level considered serious,” according to the Apr. 13 WTVY report.

“Serious physical injury” is defined by Alabama Code § 13A-1-2:

(14) SERIOUS PHYSICAL INJURY. Physical injury which creates a substantial risk of death, or which causes serious and protracted disfigurement, protracted impairment of health, or protracted loss or impairment of the function of any bodily organ…

Conviction of either Emily’s Law charge would require that Thompson was aware of “dangerous propensities” and failed to take appropriate precautions. Chief Mock stated that “Thompson made comments indicating that she was aware her dogs posed a threat.”

The City of Geneva Dogs & Cats Ordinance requires that dogs be kept on the owner’s property, and also requires secure confinement or dogs considered “vicious.” It is unclear, though, whether the dog owner was charged for any violation of the city code.

At the Apr. 6 Geneva City Council meeting, residents aired frustrations about impoundment of loose dogs and responsibility for dog attacks, as reported by Katie Ring for WTVY on Apr. 8. “I believe if we impose a stiff enough fine, we can stop some of it,” Geneva Mayor David Hayes said after the discussion.

The sister of a March 2021 Geneva dog attack victim also spoke about the continued issues: “I believe, and my family believes, that the City of Geneva did not do all that they possibly could do… and it shows… that people in the local community are still being attacked,” Renee Watkins told Ring.

Watkins’ 39-year-old brother Daniel Cade Jr. died in March 2021, three weeks after he was attacked by a pack of dogs while walking down a road in Geneva, according to a 2021 WDHN report. The City of Geneva adopted the Dogs and Cats Ordinance two months later.

A young girl was killed south of Slocomb in Geneva County some years prior to Cade’s death, per Sheriff Tony Helms.

Following the March 2026 attack, once again Geneva City Council members discussed strengthening local ordinances, WTVY reported.

In the unincorporated area of Geneva County, Alabama, there is no dog confinement requirement because the Geneva County Commission has not adopted Alabama Code § 3-1-5 to prohibit owners from allowing dogs to run at large. Neighboring counties have not adopted the statute either, compounding the problem. Geneva County also has no animal control officers and no impoundment facility, in violation of Ala. Code § 3-7A-7’s mandate that “Each county within the state shall provide a suitable county pound and impounding officer.”

Low-Cost Spay & Neuter in Geneva County

Please see Low-Cost Spay & Neuter in Houston County for resources in Dothan, and Low-Cost Spay & Neuter in Alabama for other options and assistance programs that may be available to Geneva County residents. Can you can provide spay/neuter information? Please email us.

Geneva County Documents

Sources

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