Alabama Animal Advocates

Enforcement of Animal Laws

Challenges & Remedies

Enforcement of animal laws in Alabama varies widely based on:

The effective advocate can counteract many of these challenges by learning about animal laws, appropriate enforcement, and steps to take if situations are not addressed.

Law enforcement officer

Lack of Training

Those tasked with ensuring animal welfare, public safety, and enforcement of animal laws in Alabama have little to no education on these subjects. One Alabama ACO explained it this way:

Like many animal control officers in Alabama and across the United States, I began my career with just the basics: a set of truck keys, a few traps, and a control pole. This wasn’t due to a lack of support from my county, but rather because animal control was an unknown and often overlooked area of public safety.

Even the small number of Alabama ACOs who are also certified LEOs are essentially untrained in animal law. Certification by Alabama Peace Officers’ Standards and Training Commission (APOSTC) has since 1971 been required of all Alabama LEOs, but the only animal-related education in APOSTC’s 560-hour basic training curriculum regards bestiality law.

Education in animal control and cruelty investigation is available for ACOs and LEOs, such as through Humane World for Animals (formerly Humane Society of the United States), Code 3 Associates, the National Animal Care and Control Association (NACA), Humane Law In-Service Training, Humane Educators of Texas, and the Alabama Animal Control Association (AACA). The courses offered by these organizations can satisfy requisite continuing education credits for LEOs and provide critical training to ACOs and LEOs alike.

Most Alabama ACOs, including the ACO quoted above, are civilians appointed to the role by a county or municipal government. There is no mandated training for these ACOs, and it is likely that some ACOs’ only education is on the job. Proactive ACOs and counties encourage animal control and cruelty investigation training. In Cullman County, for example, Animal Control Director Rodney Banister prefers Code 3 Associates for training; previous to Rodney’s tenure the county utilized NACA.

Because they do not have the legal training (such as in constitutional provisions) that is central to the APOSTC curriculum, civilian ACOs are not certified LEOs and are very limited in their law enforcement authority.

There are ACOs, LEOs, and district attorneys who know of only the state’s earliest cruelty law, 1977’s Cruelty to Animals. Lack of awareness of the state’s other cruelty statutes and the differences between them can result in surviving dog(s) or cat(s) becoming victims of the legal system, held much longer than they should be. Further, many cases of felony cruelty are charged only as misdemeanors, or are not charged at all, due to lack of awareness of the existence of felony cruelty and/or lack of interest in enforcement. In such situations, it is appropriate to ask the sheriff or police chief why their office is not enforcing the criminal code of the state of Alabama.

Inadequate Enforcement of Animal Laws

Enforcement of criminal law is not optional. Here’s how this was explained by animal control trainer and Cherokee County ACO Dustin Dutton:

In Alabama, animal cruelty is a crime. Not a suggestion. Not a “well maybe if you feel like it.” A CRIME. If you’re an animal control officer or a certified law enforcement officer, you’ve got a duty to enforce that.

Yet animal laws often go unenforced. For example, state law requires that “necessary sustenance or shelter” be provided. Yet, in one part of the state, ability to crawl under a mobile home may be declared suffient; in another place, a plastic barrel gets the nod; in a third, nothing is done about a dog confined to an open-air wire crate.

Some officers and officials claim that because the state’s criminal law does not define “shelter,” essentially anything passes for shelter. This is a cop-out, a scapegoating of the law’s language for a choice not to enforce. When a term is not defined, “the plain meaning rule dictates that statutes are to be interpreted using the ordinary meaning of the language of the statute.” The plain meaning of “shelter” is a refuge, a protection from adverse conditions.

We can blame the laws, but what we truly await is a shift in our societal beliefs about acceptable treatment of an animal. Until then, law enforcement will reflect prevailing attitudes, regardless of what the law says.

Negative Judgment of Animal Law Enforcement

Some officials hold the distortion that animal laws are low-priority “lesser” laws. Mitzi Martin, a 35-year veteran of animal rescue and board member of the Feral Dogs of Avondale Mill, shared this account:

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve reported something to a cop or a deputy and been told they have bigger fish to fry. Why make a law if you’re not going to enforce it? Sometimes we don’t need more laws, we just need to toughen up the ones we have and for them to be enforced.

“Animal control is the Barney Fifes of the law enforcement world,” Cullman County Attorney Brad Wilson said when we spoke in Oct. 2025. “ACOs are not given a lot of respect.” Brad explained that ACOs are sometimes falsely viewed as not being good enough or smart enough for “actual” law enforcement roles. “That [attitude] filters down into the prosecution side; people don't see animal control as an important feature of keeping peeople safe.” Cullman County has long recognized that animal control is critical to public safety and has prioritized and invested in their officers, as described at Cullman County’s Proactive Approach.

Judicial Factors

Prosecutors and judges also play a critical role in the enforcement of animal laws. Again, outcomes can vary depending on:

An ACO who was involved in many cruelty investigations advised that when advocates are disappointed by court rulings, there are often behind-the-scenes circumstances that the public never hears about, such as:

Factors such as these could create a situation where a sentence wouldn’t hold up on appeal, leaving a judge with no option except to rule accordingly. It is short-sighted to assume a judge is problematic.

What You Can Do

If your concerns are not taken seriously or if a situation continues, be persistent. Speak with someone in charge. Try to learn exactly why the situation has not been resolved. It could be that you have not provided enough information to allow the agency to act. It may also be that there is not sufficient indication of a violation.

Although you may hear or see things that offend you, they may not necessarily be considered criminal acts that can be addressed by law enforcement or other authorities. For this reason, it is important to familiarize yourself with cruelty law and other animal laws so that you can determine what situations can and can’t be addressed by existing laws. Sometimes, though, no action is taken even if it is obvious a crime has been or is being committed. It may be up to you, as the witness to a likely offense, to bring your information directly to the court through the Complaints protocol, which is available to all civilians — including civilian ACOs.

When animal laws are not enforced, the remedy is for residents, ACOs, shelter personnel, and other stakeholders to meet with the police chief or sheriff and the city or county attorney face-to-face and ask why city code or state laws are not being enforced.