Animal Services in Jefferson County

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Impoundment Facilities or Shelters in Jefferson County

GBHS began contracting with Jefferson County for animal control and impoundment facility operations in January 2015. The corporate-style nonprofit also holds contracts with the City of Birmingham and several more county municipalities. CEO Allison Black Cornelius has led Greater Birmingham Humane Society (GBHS) since September 2014. About 100 people work for GBHS, Cornelius said in June 2026.

Prior to GBHS’ contract, sheltering and animal control in Birmingham and most of Jefferson County was the responsibility of the government-run Birmingham Jefferson County (BJC) Animal Control, per AL.com. Commissioners stated that under BJC Animal Control, about 9,000 animals per year were euthanized, WBRC reported.

After GBHS took over on a temporary or trial basis in January 2015, the Jefferson County Commission voted to retain GBHS as its animal services contractor, signing a three-year contract in October 2015. “It means that animals will have a shot at life,” Cornelius said at the time.

GBHS Budget: As of 2025, GBHS' budget was $9 million, according to CBS42. As for taxpayer funds paid by local governments, the most recent compensation numbers we are aware of are $1.4 million (estimated, see p.6) for animal control and impoundment services in Jefferson County’s unincorporated area and municipalities under 5,000 population, and $500,000 for impoundment services in the City of Birmingham. GBHS also contracts with multiple other Jefferson County municipalities.

Additionally, we know that GBHS was paid by the City of Jasper $227,000 in 2025 and $132,000 in Jan–June 2025. We await exact numbers (since Walker County Administrator Amy Frederickson is ignoring our overdue records request), but we do know also that Walker County’s contract is worth over $200,000/year. Pell City tells us its GBHS payment records will be provided by Aug. 7. GBHS is also the contracted impoundment service provider (at the Pell City facility) for all of St. Clair County.

Snow Drive has served as GBHS’ adoption center since 2004.

Across the street, Cornelius described a 27,000 sq.ft. warehouse across the street from the adoption center used to store food and supplies for a GBHS pet pantry, however, it appears that the service is actually operated by Greater Good Charities and facilitated locally by GBHS.

“We serve as Alabama’s Emergency Response Unit during a natural disaster,” Cornelius told the Sylacauga City Council while pitching her organization’s involvement with the city’s Hwy. 280 dog debacle, stating that the warehouse is also used during natural and man-made disasters.

Cornelius’ statement implies that there is such a thing as a state-appointed humane disaster response agency and that GBHS is that, all of which is false. There is no such agency or position, and to imply such is to fabricate a sense of authority and expertise and a pretense of recognition in an official capacity.

Alabama does have a disaster response agency — the Alabama Emergency Management Agency (AEMA) — and GBHS has nothing to do with it. GBHS, for its part, does get involved with local and regional disasters; however, we found absolutely nothing to support the claim that GBHS does so in any official capacity.

Actually, the organization collects funds from the Bissell Foundation for such efforts, and GBHS has been outed for exploitative disaster profiteering. In his documentation of GBHS’ actions, Mike Fry of the No Kill Movement advised those wanting to provide financial support that “The most important tip is to give locally to the agencies directly affected. Donating to other organizations that are not affected only takes money away from those who need it most.”

Such work is not part of GBHS’ government contracts. “GBHS regularly imports animals from out-of-state,” Fry wrote, “even though all indications are that they are not adequately caring for the animals in their own county.”

Yet GBHS has never separated these extracontractual animals from animals served as part of government contracts. All are grouped together on what the organization falsely presents as certified Animal Census Reports. Further, GBHS has never clarified where extracontractual animals are boarded, raising question of whether taxpayer-funded impoundment facilities in Walker, Jefferson, and St. Clair counties are being used for private purposes and whether unsuspecting local governments are being billed for the boarding of imported animals.

GBHS also transports animals to Northern states. Cornelius stated in June 2026 that GHS transports 60–100 animals per week. The ethics, legality, and effectivenss of such transport operations is questionable, as discussed by the No Kill Movement.

Dr. Russell Johnson, DVM, joined GBHS in May 2024. Johnson is a graduate of Tuskegee University, the Birmingham Times reported.

The former Jefferson County Animal Shelter, now referred to as Woodlawn, is Jefferson County’s intake facility for animals impounded, seized, or found by residents within GBHS’s animal control jurisdiction. GBHS Animal Care & Control, a wholly-owned subsidiary of GBHS, has operated Woodlawn since January 2015.

After the state-mandated 7-day hold, a large number of animals' lives are ended at Woodlawn, “GBHS’s primary location for euthanasia operations” according to reporting by Donald Watkins. Animals that GBHS chooses to make available for adoption or rescue are transferred to Snow Drive.

Watkins reported that the Woodlawn facility was “in a run-down and dilapidated condition” when GBHS ACC began operating it in 2015. AL.com characterized Woodlawn as “unsafe” for the animals held there. GBHS CEO Allison Black Cornellius described the facility to AL.com’s Ivana Hrynkiw as unremediable, equating repair to “putting lipstick on a pig” and stating, “We have got to get out of here... This is unacceptable.” Jefferson County stated that Woodlawn “is in need of major rehabilitation.”

The new $31 million Jefferson County Animal Care & Control Facility, described next, was completed in December 2025 or January 2026, but remains unoccupied.

Other Animal Facilities in Jefferson County

The 6.5 acre 1052 Sydney Drive property (near Lakeshore Pkwy, Lucerne Lane, and Milan Pkwy, in Oxmoor Corporate Park), was developed by Jefferson County as a replacement for Woodlawn. “Commissioner Joe Knight said the humane society has needed a new, larger facility for many years,” CBS42 reported.

Described by Jefferson County Commissioner Sheila Tyson as “a Taj Mahal for our animals,” the facility was to include kennels for up to 448 dogs (compared to Woodlawn’s capacity of about 300 adult dogs), and over 100 cats (compared to about 80 at Woodlawn), as well as dedicated kitten and puppy areas and six play yards, per Bham Now.

Bordering GBHS-owned land, the AC facility was planned with GBHS as part of an animal services campus:

• Jefferson County Animal Care & Control Facility
• GBHS Teaching & Critical Care Hospital (not yet built)
• GBHS Adoption Center (not yet built)
• Cat café, walking trails, outdoor plazal (not yet built)

Construction of the 38,000 sq.ft., $31 million (see top of p.240) Jefferson County Animal Care & Control Facility, funded by Jefferson County Commission, began in November 2024 and was expected to take one year. Bham Now mentioned a December 2025 grand opening. Project manager BL Harbert posted photos of the facility in January 2026, stating that it was nearing completion.

This facility is completed but is not in use, in our understanding. Animals remain at Woodlawn despite Woodlawn’s widely-reported dilapidated condition.

“Since the 1990s, GBHS has been searching for a property to combine the vet clinic, adoption, transport, and education center and finally found it,” Summer Guffy reported on Bham Now.

A primary goal of this campus model was to reduce the need to transport animals, CEO Allison Black Cornelius told Lisa Crane of WVTM. “Every single day, we have to load up 20 to 35 animals, put them in two different vehicles at two different locations, drive them to Hoover, alter them and bring them back to the Snow Drive location for adoption, every day,” Cornelius said.

In 2021, GBHS and the Jefferson County Commission purchased land near Lakeshore Pkwy and Red Mountain State Park. The acreage was reported by Bham Now as 16 acres and by Birchfield Penuel Architects as 27 acres. Whether either of these figures include the 6.5-acre Jefferson County Animal Care & Control Facility is unclear.

On Apr. 15, 2026, Cornelius described the project as GBHS’ “planned $50 million, nationally recognized medical-model campus” in a Facebook post that raised doubt about the project’s status following the permitting of the 75 acre, $2 billion Nebius hyperscale data center, alleging that the City of Birmingham and developers sidestepped zoning rules. In an Apr. 29 video, Cornelius elaborated on unanswered questions and concerns about the proximity of the data center and stated that GBHS had filed two appeals of the city permit.

In July 2026, GBHS filed a lawsuit against the City of Birmingham and two Nebius-related LLCs that challenges whether the received proper legal approval.

“GBHS’s Complete Organizational Results”

GBHS’ true figures are lower than what is shown above — lower in quantity and lower in Live Release Rate. This is because GBHS Intake and Outcome data violates the Animal Census Act by including services that are not part of the organization’s government contracts. This and other manipulations by GBHS have been reported for nearly a decade.

In our commitment to affording GBHS every benefit of the doubt, rather than omitting the GBHS’ Other and TNVR/CCDP categories, both of which we know include extracontractual work, we have included the full figure in the above numbers and in the 2024 GBHS Data PDF — for the time being.

On Aug. 7, 2026 we reached out to CEO Allison Black Cornelius and Program Manager Ivana Sullivan for clarification. The data in the table above and in the PDF will be adjusted when GBHS provides that clarification or chooses, as has been their pattern, to willfully ignore our legally-mandated right to this information.

GBHS' (Noncompliant) Data:

• 2024 GBHS Monthly Complete Organizational Results were obtained by Aubrie Kavanaugh from GBHS Program Officer Ivana Sullivan and through the Jefferson County Public Records Request portal. The documents are unaltered. They are also not Animal Census Reports (despite the title) and do not comply with state law.
• 2024 GBHS Annual Report provides annual data compiled by totaling the monthly figures stated on GBHS’ 2024 Complete Organizational Results so that full-year data may be seen at a glance. However, the data shown still does not comply with the Census Act and includes animals that GBHS took in or provided services for as part of its private nonprofit work, not as part of any government contract.

GBHS Remains Uncompliant. Even after a year and a half of suppressing legally mandated reports, the 2025 and 2026 documents that GBHS has now posted still does not comply with state law. GBHS has yet to comply with the Animal Census Reporting Act (which was enacted in 2015). For over a decade GBHS has maintained government contracts, collected millions in taxpayer funds, and has been entrusted with the care of our animals — all while in violation of the one-and-only instrument of accountability that is required by Alabama law.

Previous-Year Data (Also Uncompliant): We compiled previous-year GBHS files from Eye on the GBHS and an unidentified Squarespace server. We combined the monthly reports files into single compilation PDFs for each year. All of the previous-year data we have found can be viewed here:

• 2016 and 2017 GBHS Monthly Complete Organizational Results.
• GBHS Complete Organizational Results from most months of 2018 and 2019 and scattered months in 2020–2023.

Some of these reports include remarks and callouts added by the former GBHS staff members who posted them in the Eye on the GBHS Facebook group. None of these reports have been altered or in any way edited by us.

GBHS CEO Allison Black Cornelius’ Attempt to Gaslight Us

In a July 28, 2026, 5:16 a.m. Facebook post, we publicly mentioned that 2024 was the most recent year from which GBHS had shared data. On Aug. 3, CEO Allison Black Cornelius replied to another of our posts, stating:

Hey you geniuses.
They’re on our website.
Always have been

Lo and behold, there they are in the GBHS FAQ. They “always have been” there, Cornelius said. Would we fall for this, back down in shame? Could Cornelius lie, lie again about that lie, excuse it all as our ignorance and stupidity — and get away with it? And all that effort on records requests while the documents was right there all along!

Nope. That was another lie. And this time, Cornelius was attempting to gaslight us. To rewrite history. To deny facts.

The truth is that the documents were NOT there all along. Cornelius’ claim that the documents that she had withheld “always have been” on the GBHS website, right there under our noses the entire time, is demonstrably false.

Verify for Yourself. The truth is that GBHS could not have posted the documents any earlier than the afternoon of July 28, 2026 — the very same day we publicly mentioned GBHS’ noncompliance. Cornelius’ flippant statement that the documents “always have been” on the GBHS website is conclusively demonstrated as a lie, by once again, GBHS’ own files:

• The Truth is in the Metadata: The ‘Created’ timestamp in the metadata of all six GBHS 2026 PDFs is July 28, 2026, between 2:57 and 3:01 p.m. You can see it in this screenshot — take a look at the Document Properties dialog box on the right, where GBHS Program Officer Ivana Sullivan is shown as the author and under her name is the 7/28/26, 3:01:16 PM. To verify this for yourself, download any of the GBHS 2026 PDFs, open the PDF in Acrobat or Reader, and go to File > Properties.
• The Truth is in the Archives: Cornelius’ lie is also revealed by the Internet Archive Wayback Machine’s historic snapshots of the GBHS FAQ page. If we take a look at the most recent snapshot, from December 2025, we can see that the 2025 and 2026 documents that are now offered on the GBHS FAQ did not exist. (In another lie, the FAQ refers to “Animal Census Report[s]” even though the documents posted by GBHS are not Animal Census Reports.)

GBHS’ Manipulation of Animal Census Reports

CEO Allison Black Cornelius described the data provided by her organization as GBHS’s Complete Organizational Results. Complete is an accurate description in the sense that the figures are provided only in aggregate. That is, GBHS documents combine government contract data with private GBHS activities unrelated to the organization’s government contracts, without defined separations or subtotals

The figures represented in the data are shown in this table:

Only Public Intake Data is Prescribed by the Animal Census Reporting Act. Because GBHS (a) aggregates rather than separates private and public intake and (b) does not provide data specific to each county, city, or contract, GBHS Complete Organizational Results do not comply with state law.

No Private Program or Private Service is a Census Act Prescribed Data Point. These services are provided by GBHS’ operation as a private nonprofit. GBHS may, of course, share information about their private nonprofit work, but Private Programs or Services are unrelated to GBHS' government contracts.

This is NOT an Animal Census Report. Despite GBHS’ title, which we’ ve circled in red, this is not an Animal Census Report. Only the highlighted items present data prescribed by the Animal Census Reporting Act in § 3-10-3. The crossed-out numbers and categories are NOT Animal Census data. They represent Private Programs and Services performed as part of the organization's operation as a private nonprofit.

The Census Reporting Act states in § 3-10-3:

Any report compiled by the owner, operator, manager, or director of an animal shelter pursuant to this chapter shall include a statement by the person preparing the report certifying that the report is true and correct to the best of his or her knowledge.

Greater Birmingham Humane Society submited these reports to their government contractors and provides these reports as fulfillment of Public Records Requests (§ 36-12-40, et al) for Animal Census Reports pursuant to the Census Reporting Act. This is a lie.

On July 29, 2026, GBHS CEO Allison Black Cornelius stated:

Our certified reports are public, and GBHS will fulfill every legal reporting obligation.

This is another lie. GBHS has never fulfilled every legal reporting obligation, and GBHS falsifies government contract data by inflating and intermingling it with extracontractual figures.

GBHS Has Provided Only Non-Compliant Records:

• Alabama law requires Census Reports to be specific to each individual government contract or shelter, but GBHS provides only aggregate numbers. For example state law requires GBHS to provide individual reports for Pell City, Walker County, Jasper, Jefferson County, etc., with each report including only animals served as part of GBHS's contract with the subject city or county.
• GBHS is welcome to provide information on their private programs, such as serving as a hub for the Bissell Foundation and assisting individuals and organization with their privately-owned animals or community cats, but those animals and services do not meet the criteria to be listed as intake or outcomes. To intermingle those animals on Animal Census Reports is to falsify and manipulate public records.

Unfulfilled GBHS Records Requests

What GBHS Staff Has Said About Transparency & Animal Census Records:

• “At GBHS, we believe transparency, accountability, and public participation matter.” — May 29, 2026 Facebook post by Greater Birmingham Humane Society.
• "Yes.” — Kristin Pierson, GBHS Animal Care & Control, via email to Kristin Yarbrough’s question, “Does the shelter prepare and publish monthly census reports (e.g., as described in the Animal Census Reporting Act)?”
• "Our certified reports are public, and GBHS will fulfill every legal reporting obligation.” — July 29, 2026 post by GBHS CEO Allison Black Cornelius, in response to Kristin Yarbrough's July 28 post in which Kristin stated that 2024 was “the most recent year for which GBHS complied with the state requirement to share data.“ (We were mistaken, as described above. GBHS has never provided a compliant report.)
• “GBHS’s reports are public and available upon request.” — July 30, 2026 Facebook comment by GBHS Director of Development & Marketing Stephanie Salvago.

GBHS is legally required by Alabama’s Animal Census Reporting Act (§ 3-10-1, et al) and Alabama’s Open Records Act (§ 36-12-40, et al) to provide monthly animal census reports. The Reporting Act states, “Reports under this chapter shall be considered a public record and access to the reports shall not be denied for any reason.”

What Happened When We Requested 2025 Records from GBHS:

• Aug. 5, 2025 — Aubrie Kavanaugh requested Jan–June 2025 monthly data from GBHS Program Manager Ivana Sullivan. On Aug. 22, Sullivan replied stating that she was "gathering that data." On Oct. 21, Kavanaugh emailed Sullivan to inquire about the status of the request. Since two months had passed since Sullivan's last communication, the request was expanded to seek reports through September. No response from Sullivan was received.
• Jan. 12, 2026 — Kavanaugh submitted a new request to Sullivan via email for Jan–Dec monthly census records. No response from Sullivan was received.
• Mar. 4, 2026 — Kristin Yarbrough requested 2025 data from Stephanie Salvago, GBHS Director of Development & Marketing. I received no reply.
• Mar. 4, 2026 — Kristin requested from Lindsey Cross, GBHS Jasper Animal Care & Control manager and then-manager of GBHS Walker County Animal Care & Control. I requested data for both Jasper and Walker County, asking, “Are you able to send animal census reports for each month of 2025, or would you let me know who to request from?” I received no reply. I sent a followup email on Mar. 17, and again received no reply.
• Mar. 17, 2026 — Kristin requested from Ivana Sullivan, GBHS Program Officer. Ivana replied the next day, cc'ing GBHS CEO Allison Black Cornelius and asking me “to see the compilation of reports” on the Advocates website. On March 18 I replied to Sullivan and Cornelius to provide the link to Alabama Animal Census Data. I received no reply.
• Apr. 9, 2026 — Kavanaugh emailed Sullivan to inquire about the status of the Jan. 12 records request. No response from Sullivan was received.
• Apr. 20, 2026 — Kristin emailed Ivana and Allison, stating, “Hello again, Ivana. Just letting you know that I’ve gone ahead and marked GBHS as non-compliant with the Animal Census Reporting Act, as we are two weeks past the Open Records Act deadline. I will be happy to update upon receiving the data.” I received no reply.
• Apr. 24, 2026 — Kristin emailed Erica Shubert, GBHS Walker County Animal Care & Control Manager, and Lindsey Cross, GBHS Jasper Animal Care & Control Manager, stating, “Hello again Lindsey and Erica, Just letting you know that I’ve gone ahead and marked GBHS Walker County and GBHS Jasper as non-compliant with Alabama’s Animal Census Reporting Act and Open Records Act, as the requests below remain unanswered. I will be happy to update Animal Services in Walker County and Alabama Animal Census Data upon receiving the 2025 Animal Census reports.” I received no reply.

And from Government Officials:

• Sept. 22, 2025 — City of Pell City acknowledged Kristin Yarbrough's request the same day, but did not fulfill the request.
• Mar. 11, 2026 — Kavanaugh submitted a request through the Jefferson County Commission NextRequest Portal seeking GBHS monthly census reports for Jan—Dec 2025. (Previous Request 25-650 resulted in the production of 2024 monthly census reports by Assistant County Attorney Shawna Smith.) On Mar. 19, Helen Hayes of Jefferson County provided 24 PDFs consisting of invoices and spreadsheets totaling 820 pages. On Mar. 20, Kavanaugh communicated with Hayes through the Portal to explain the reports provided were not those sought. When Kavanaugh was told to look at the PDFs provided, Kavanaugh again stated that the reports did not fulfill the request. The request was closed and no further documents were provided by the Jefferson County Commission.
• Apr. 24, 2026 — Kristin cc'd Walker County Commissioner Jeff Burrough on the email detailed in the GBHS section above that was sent to GBHS staff members Lindsey Cross and Erica Shubert, since Commissioner Burrough had assisted with a 2025 records request to which Walker County Administrator Amy Frederickson had been unresponsive. I received no reply.
• Apr. 24, 2026 — Kristin emailed all five Jefferson County Commissioners to advise that “Greater Birmingham Humane Society is in violation of Alabama’s Animal Census Reporting Act and Open Records Act. The two statutes require GBHS and Jefferson County Commission to provide Animal Census records within 15 business days of acknowledgement; however GBHS leadership is thus far choosing not to provide this key documentation of the shelter’s performance on behalf of the Jefferson County Commission, residents, and taxpayers.” I received no response.
• Apr. 30, 2026 — Kristin emailed Rep. Jim Carns (House District 48, Jefferson County & Shelby County, and former Jefferson County commissioner), advising the same. I received no response.
• May 17, 2026 — Kristin requested from City of Pell City. On May 20, City Clerk Sheree Pruit advised that census records “would need to be requested from the Greater Birmingham Humane Society as I would not have access to those records.” I replied to Pruit advising of the two Alabama laws requiring both GBHS and local governments (including Pell City) to provide census records, stating that GBHS has not provided data, and asking that Pell City and St. Clair officials insist that their contractor provide the required records.
• May 17, 2026 — Kristin requested records from St. Clair County Commission. A May 19 unsigned reply stated “You would need to request these reports from Pell City, We do not keep records for the Animal Control Center.” I replied, “May I suggest that St. Clair County Commission make a point of obtaining GBHS census records at least quarterly? GBHS should be providing records to you as a contract holder, since the reports are a primary metric with which officials and residents can review performance and get some sense of how their taxdollars are being spent…” There was no response.
• June 5, 2026 — Kavanaugh submitted a new records request through the Jefferson County Commission NextRequest Portal seeking GBHS monthly census records for Jan–Dec 2025 and providing the wording of the Animal Census Reporting Act.
• July 13, 2026 — Kristin's request to Walker County Administrator Amy Frederickson has received no response, a repeat of what happened with a 2025 request sent to Walker County. Frederickson not once replied to an email, answered the phone, or returned any of multiple messages left for her by her staff — all while stating publicly that she “is committed to transparency.”
• July 14, 2026 — Kristin requested from the City of Jasper. City Clerk Kathy Chambless provided an estimate of fees on July 20 for other documents in the request, but did not mention the 2025 or 2026 census records that were part of the request, so I inquired about that item. (This will be updated upon Kathy's reply.)
• July 28, 2026 — Kavanaugh spoke with Helen Hayes of Jefferson County Commission to inquire about the status of the June 5 restated request. Hayes stated that it was the opinion of Assistant County Attorney Shawna Smith that the PDFs provided in March satisfied the request for the census reports. Hayes referred Kavanaugh to Smith; Kavanaugh called and left a message for Smith. That same afternoon, Hayes provided Kavanaugh with 784 pages of invoices and spreadsheets through the NextRequest Portal that duplicated those provided in March. Hayes noted in the portal that, “after further internal discussions, we believe the information you requested is in the uploaded documents." The request was closed. Kavanaugh submitted a dispute through the portal on July 28, 2026, and has not received a response.
  

Most large operations like GBHS share data online (see Huntsville’s reports, for example). but GBHS ceased publishing data on their website some years ago.

GBHS is noncompliant in all three of the counties in which they are a contracted service provider (Jefferson, Walker, and St. Clair). Government officials have stated that GBHS does not provide the required records to them either.

Any Alabama resident may request Animal Census Records from Ivana Sullivan or from Jefferson County Commission, Walker County Commission, St. Clair County Commission, or any of the municipalities which contract animal services to GBHS, including Jasper, Pell City, and several more cities in Jefferson County.

Animal Control in Jefferson County

In unincorporated areas of Jefferson County, animal control is the responsibility of GBHS Animal Care & Control (ACC). “We have four ACOs including the field services supervisor. At full staff, we have six ACOs,” ACC Dispatch Manager Kristin Pierson told us in April 2025. GBHS ACC officers are civilians who do not have enforcement authority; ACOs work with Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and local police departments for criminal charging.

If the animal concern is located within the corporate limits or police jurisdiction of a city or town, here’s who to contact:

• In Adamsville, Homewood, Hoover, Hueytown, Lake View, Leeds, and Vestavia Hills, contact city hall or the local police department.
• As part of their contract with Jefferson County, GBHS Animal Care & Control serves Jefferson County municipalities under 5,000 residents (except for Adamsville): Argo, Brighton, Brookside, Cardiff, Graysville, Kimberly, Lipscomb, Maytown, Morris, Mulga, North Johns, Sumiton, Sylvan Springs, Warrior, and West Jefferson. Additionally, GBHS ACC holds contracts with the cities of Clay, Fairfield, Fultondale, Irondale (see Documents), Midfield, Pinson, and Trussville (since 2017). For assistance, see GBHS Animal Care & Control contact info above.
• In Bessemer, animal control is the responsibility of the Public Improvements Department (Street & Sanitation). “Each day, two dedicated women, Belinda Pruitt and Rachel May, work tirelessly to provide a safe haven for our community by responding to loose, stray, and aggressive animals,” Councilman Chester W. Porter wrote on a February 2026 Facebook post. Call 205-424-4084 for assistance. WBRC reported in July 2025 that Bessemer Police also has an ACO “who goes out daily looking for stray dogs.” Police Chief Gary Carmichael told WBRC that the officer cites for violations of the city’s dog confinement ordinance and impounds when the owner cannot be identified in the field. Animals are held at Woodlawn.
• Birmingham ACOs work directly for the city under the leadership of Animal Control Supervisor Shellie Kurtz. Call 311 or 205-254-6314. Impounded animals are brought to Woodlawn.
• Center Point: Call City Hall at 205-854-4460.
• Gardendale: Call Dispatch at 205-631-8787 or submit a Stray Dog Complaint online.
• Helena splits animal control between the Street Department (loose dog reports) and the Helena Police Department. Report violations at Dog Complaint or call the Helena Police Department.
• Hoover: Call Hoover Animal Control.
• Mountain Brook: Call Mountain Brook Animal Control Unit, 205-802-3844.

Dog Confinement Requirements in Jefferson County

Statute Adoption: Jefferson County officials could not locate any record of adoption of Alabama Code § 3-1-5 and expressed misconceptions over statute applicability and enforcement, as detailed below.

Dog Confinement Requirements Within Corporate Limits & Police Jurisdiction:

• Dog confinement is required in Bessemer (§§ 14-58, 14-60, 14-81), Birmingham (§ 6-1-14), Center Point (§ 5-1), Fultondale (2001 No. 519), Gardendale (§ 8-44), Helena (§ 368-69), Homewood (§ 4-4), Hoover (§ 4-21), Hueytown (§ 10-21), Irondale (§ 3-26, § 3-52), Leeds (§ 8-53), Midfield (§ 10-42), Mountain Brook (§ 6-107), Pleasant Grove (§ 18-45), Tarrant (§ 3-4), Trafford (Ordinance No. 85), Trussville (§ 10-53), and Vestavia Hills (running at large is prohibited on streets and other public areas of the city, § 4-19; § 4-20).
• Dog confinement is not required by ordinance in County Line.
• Dog confinement requirements unknown (ordinances are not published online) in Argo, Brighton, Brookside, Cardiff, Clay, Fairfield, Graysville, Kimberly, Lake View, Lipscomb, Maytown, Morris, Mulga, North Johns, Pinson, Sumiton, Sylvan Springs, Warrior, West Jefferson.

Our Recommendation for those in the unincorporated area or in a municipality with unclear statutory authority is to proceed as if the statute or an ordinance is applicable, by keeping their own dogs confined or in their charge and by reporting owners who allow their dog to run loose, for the safety of people and animals alike.

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

Applicability: Is Alabama’s dog confinement statute applicable in Jefferson County? Sources conflicted.

• A 2011 Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office Facebook post [screenshot] described enforcement of § 3-1-5. The post does not state that Jefferson County adopted the statute; it states merely that “Alabama has a law,” which is characteristic of the common misconception that 3-1-5 is automatically applicable, when actually it is applicable only if adopted by the county commission.
• On an Apr. 16, 2025 call to GBHS Animal Care & Control, Amanda stated that Jefferson County has a “county-wide leash law” and that enforcing that law is a primary responsibility of ACC. She said officers do not have citation authority, but they can and do pick up animals, whether or not the animal is wearing a rabies tag.
• On an Apr. 16, 2025 call to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, Operator 119 said she consulted with a sergeant who said questions related to the statute must go through an attorney.
• On Mar. 29, 2025, I submitted a records request via the portal for the minutes and the resolution by which the statute was adopted, if applicable. On Apr. 14, Jefferson County closed the request, stating, “We have searched our system and do not see where the County adopted it.”
• On Oct. 16, 2025, Chris Sharit, City of Pinson Zoning Administrator & Public Safety, said he was personally aware of enforcement through his 30-year history with the Sheriff’s Office. When I asked about Jefferson County having no record of adoption, Chris said he did not know what was happening in the courts but he knew that LEOs were charging residents for violation.
• On Oct. 20, 2025, GBHS CEO Allison Black Cornelius stated in an email to me that GBHS ACOs “were instructed by then Deputy Dwight Sloan, and now Deputy Tim Sanford, that 3-1-5 applies to, and is enforced in, unincorporated Jefferson County. If an official from the Jefferson County Commission says they have no record of an adoption [of the statute], then that would be what one would have to go by.”

Low-Cost Spay & Neuter in Jefferson County

More Options & Information: See Low-Cost Spay & Neuter in Alabama, in Blount County, in St. Clair County, or in Walker County.

Cat TNR & Fostering

• For snip, tip, and vaccination of community cats, see ASN or ASV Hoover in the table above.
• The nonprofit Country Cattery assists with feral and friendly community cats — including TNR, vet care, foster programs, and adoption — in Jefferson, Chilton, Shelby, and St. Clair counties. TNR ensures the health and stability of the colony by trapping the cats so they can be sterilized, ear-tipped (for identification), vaccinated, and have any health needs attended to prior to returning to their home. If you have noticed a cat colony, contact the Country Cattery via email or through Facebook.

Assistance for Pet Owners, Shelters, and Rescues

• The Sugarbelle Foundation (Fb) helps financially-struggling families with vet care, temporary fostering, training, pet food, and supplies in accordance with their mission to keep people and pets together.
• Alabama Pet Pantry (Fb) distributes free pet food in Pelham, Bessemer, and Montevallo, with details posted on Facebook.
• The GOODS Program, operated by Greater Good Charities and facilitated locally by GBHS, offers low-cost food and supplies to pounds, shelters, TNR groups, rescues, and the public.
• GBHS Outreach Team supports pet owners facing barriers to keeping their pets by providing pet food and supplies, preventative care, microchipping, behavioral or training assistance, medical grooming, dog houses, fencing repair, and emergency boarding such as for those fleeing an abusive situation, experiencing homelessness, or otherwise temporarily unable to care for their pet.
• Low-cost rabies vaccination is offered by the county rabies officer; rabies clinic dates are posted on Facebook.
• For emergency vet care, see Birmingham Now’s compilation of options.

Jefferson County Documents

• Greater Birmingham Humane Society (GBHS) Animal Census Records — also see notes below.
• Irondale-GBHS Contracts from 2022, 2023, 2025
• Public Records Request Forms: Jefferson County (NextRequest Portal), Trussville ($25 minimum fee), Bessemer

Sources

Greater Birmingham Humane Society (GBHS) and The Country Cattery:

• Allison Black Cornelius, GBHS CEO, corresponded with Kristin Yarbrough regarding Alabama Code § 3-1-5 applicability in Jefferson County in several emails beginning on Oct. 20, 2025. Allison detailed research by GBHS on the statute and related topics and guidance provided by Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office to GBHS ACC. Other details on this page, such as the January 2015 date in which GBHS took over management of Woodlawn, were also provided by Allison.
• Kristin Pierson, GBHS Animal Care & Control dispatch manager, conversed with Kristin Yarbrough via tel and email on Apr. 25, 2025 and several more times throughout the year.
• Stephanie Salvago, GBHS Development & Marketing, 205-937-3042, SSalvago@gbhs.org, confirmed the municipalities that contract with GBHS ACC via email on Oct. 20, 2025. We received no response to our request for 2025 Animal Census reports sent to Stephanie on Mar. 4, 2026.
• Rachel Cochran, VP of the Country Cattery, messaged with Kristin Yarbrough on Apr. 22, 2026.

Jefferson County:

• Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office: 205-325-5700 x8, info@jeffcosheriffal.com. I emailed regarding Alabama Code § 3-1-5 applicability on Oct. 16, 2025. On an Oct. 20 follow-up call to 205-325-5700 x8 (for other topics), the receptionist transferred me to Dispatch. At Dispatch, Operator 119 said he was not allowed to discuss laws. My next call to JCSO rang many times and then disconnected.
• Deputy Tim Stanford, animal cruelty investigator: Upon hearing from Allison that Dep. Stanford had spoken to GBHS ACOs about 3-1-5, I asked that my email to JCSO be forwarded to Dep. Stanford with hopes he could provide more information. 325-5700 x patrol administration. I was able to reach Dep. Stanford on Oct. 28 but he said he was not allowed to speak for research purposes without the granting of permission by his superior.
• Honorable Tanita Cain, District Judge: 205-325-5296. On Oct. 20, the judge was not in and Gloria Rutledge offered the judge’s email address; I emailed that morning. On an Oct. 28 follow-up, Gloria said she would ask the judge about it when she returned to the office; I also provided the email to Gloria for her reference.

Municipalities:

Adamsville, Bessemer, Birmingham, Homewood, Hoover, Hueytown, Mountain Brook, and Vestavia Hills have their own animal control officers, according to the GBHS Animal Control page. Guidance on this page is based on that information and the sources listed in the Animal Control section and below. When we found no information (such as on the city or town website and in internet searches), residents are advised to ask the police department or city/town hall.

• Adamsville has its own ACOs, according to GBHS Animal Control FAQ. However, the most recent Facebook post by Adamsville Police Department that shows an impounded dog is from 2024.
• Bessemer has its own ACOs, according to GBHS Animal Control FAQ. I left a message for City Clerk Rickelle Gray on Nov. 13, 2025, to ask how animal control is handled in Bessemer. On Nov. 14, I spoke to a woman in the Public Improvements Department who would not provide her name. She answered that impounded animals are taken to Woodlawn but would not speak further, stating that her supervisor would call me (I did not hear from the supervisor). Also, Bessemer requires dog licensing (§ 14-51).
• Birmingham: The City of Birmingham has its own ACOs, according to the GBHS Animal Control page and an Oct. 2025 WVTM13 article. Information in the AC section is from Kristin Pierson via tel on Nov. 3, 2025. I spoke with Gloria at Birmingham Public Information Office on Nov. 3, 2025, to ask whether ACOs are authorized to issue summonses for violations of city code; Gloria said she referred the question to Latoya Walker, city liaison. I also messaged Animal Control Supervisor Shellie Kurtz through Facebook to ask. When I did not hear back from either, on a Nov. 13 followup, Gloria said she would escalate again and said she could not give me a direct tel for Latoya or Shellie. I did not hear back.
• Clay information is from Pamela at City Hall on Apr. 27, 2026.
• Center Point Resource Directory lists the city hall phone number for animal control.
• Fairfield contracts with GBHS according to Yvette on Apr. 30, 2026.
• Fultondale contracts with GBHS for animal control, according to the Fultondale Animal Control page.
• Gardendale information is from the city website’s Public Services and Animal Control pages.
• Homewood: Animal control is the responsibility of Homewood Police Department, according to their website FAQ, which also states that animals are held at Vulcan Park Animal Care.
• Leeds Police Department handles most animal complaints, according to the city website.
• Midfield does not address animal control on their website, as of this Apr. 26, 2026 update. There are no animal-related posts on the Midfield Police Department Facebook page. The city reportedly contracts with GBHS, though I could find no reference connecting the city with GBHS.
• Pinson: On Oct. 16, 2025, both Anjelisa and Chris Sharit, Zoning Administrator & Public Safety, said that the city does have animal control services, but neither knew who provided those services.
• Trussville Public Works Department refers residents to GBHS ACC for “Dogs/Cats” and to Trussville Police Department for “Abuse/neglect.” The city renewed a contract with GBHS for animal control and pound services in November 2021, per the Trussville Tribune, and presumably has renewed again since then.
• Vestavia Hills Police Department handles animal control.

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